An Advent Table: God Counts the Tears of Women

Continuing thoughts on being a Sonshine Bearer...

Bearing Sonshine doesnt mean having artificial cheer or ignoring problems that are real. It doesnt mean false grins, denying need or pain, or blocked tears. David sure knew how to lament after all, but he did so with trust. And God doesnt ask us to despite our tears, quite the opposite He cherishes them so much He counts them (Psalm 56:8). And the Talmud also says in particular that "God counts the tears of women":

"The Talmud says that God counts a woman's tears, and men are warned to make sure that they do not cause their wives pain." (Baba Metzia 59), see here.

A bit more on the sacredness of tears from here:

"God counts my tears, every single one, and collects them in a jar. None of them are lost, not a single tear is cried in vain. God understands the language of my tears, even beyond all words.
A legend tells us that God himself cried as Adam and Eve left paradise into a life beyond Eden. With his hand, which was still damp from his tears, he stroked both of their eyes and said: „I give you the gift of tears for your life, which will be your efforts for the grief, for the pain, for fear and sadness and for joy and happiness. I give you the gift of tears so that you remain vivid.“"

So being a Sonshine bearer sure doesnt mean denying any of these things. It simply means coming to all of these things still bearing and spreading the hope of Sonshine somehow. Keeping vigil, embracing tears, but with the Son by our side...

(Added later) After writing the above, co-in-see-dance-ally came across something, here (midpage). Basically, there is a legend about Mary's mother (Anna, or Hannah), how her sorrow over being childless reached God. An angel came to her saying, ""Hannah, the Lord has looked upon thy tears (italics mine); thou shalt conceive and give birth and the fruit of thy womb shall be blessed by all the world" And of course she named this daughter Mary (Miriam), which is connected with tears by being likened with the saltiness (bitterness) of the sea.

I just love this connection of tears with the sea, and with Our Blessed Mother's name. Bitterness is an interesting thing...ever notice just how many healing herbal tonics are bitter, the healing medicine is in that very bitterness, its a sacred thing. Ironically, a healing flowing sort of bitterness like this is a remedy for the harmful stagnant sorts of bitterness (resentment etc). And too, this healing bitterness is not the only quality of the sea, the sea also has depth. It is that depth that allows the sea to recieve the sun and filter it down deeper into the water. So too in spirit...tears and emotional depth go hand in hand.

Being a Sonshine bearer has not a thing in the world to do with being flightly or shallow, that is a huge misunderstanding many have i feel. One must have true depth to create an opening to bear the Sonshine...

(Image from here)