Are You a Cry Baby?

I heard a man telling about how easy it is for him to cry these days — at the birth of his baby, over the great love he has for his wife, a touching movie, and the love He has for God and His tender mercies. He said he could cry at the “drop of a hat”. He called himself “emotionally incontinent”! I’ll admit it. I love it when I see a strong, manly guy, have such tender emotions that he isn’t afraid to shed some tears that express his sensitivity, tenderness and gratitude. My son was crying as he showed us a video of a family out on a football field being honored for the sacrifices they’d made as a military family, when, all of a sudden the military dad showed up. That should lead us to tears — to think about all our service men and women do for our freedoms. All of the guys, and the rest of us criers, are in good company. The Gospel writers didn’t feel that tears were a threat to either the manhood or Godhood of Christ when they recorded that “Jesus wept.”

Yesterday, I was watching reruns of Chip & Joanna Gaines’ “Fixer Upper” TV show. I cried right along with the homeowners when, at the end of the show, the big reveal came. That pitiful looking home they started with became transformed and gorgeous – inside and out.

In answer to the question, “Are you a cry baby?” My answer is “Yes, I am!” I keep tissues with me most of the time because it doesn’t take much for me to expose my emotions. It seems the longer I live, the easier it is for me to tear up – at church, weddings, birthday and anniversary celebrations, new babies, my grandkids’ accomplishments, viral videos of Our military being welcomed home or surprising their family or children and animals being rescued, or that touching note that came from a friend or loved one.

But, what makes me tear up and be even more “emotionally incontinent”, is when I watch someone who has had a rough and miserable life of mental and physical abuse OR someone who WAS the abuser, the alcoholic, the liar, the cheat, the selfish — but then GRACE encountered them face-to-face in the Person of Jesus Christ. Their OLD became NEW, their messes became their message, their heartbreaks became their story, their tests became their testimony, their sadness was turned to gladness and their mourning became joy. I’ll take those tears and I’ll be emotionally incontinent any day because there are just some tears that can’t help but flow in gratitude to our God of mercy and grace!

So, the next time we feel those tears welling up, let’s just go ahead and be “emotionally incontinent” and let the tears flow!

2 Corinthians 5:17 “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”