Sometimes We Cry

One day last week, I left a positive job interview and, not feeling like being alone at the moment, decided to stop by my church and talk to one of my friends. When I stepped into her office and sat down, she greeted me with a cheery, "Hey! How did the interview go?"
  
I opened my mouth to share my good news, but my voice cracked instead....
  
The whirlwind of the past two-and-a-half days hit me---the piercing news that my highly-valued work arrangement would be changing and that I would most likely be leaving, racking my brain for a solution, the unexpected new interview, trying to wrap my head around the upcoming transitions---all after a couple of tough weeks. Tears began running uncontrollably down my face. I tried to at least prevent new ones from forming as I strove to calmly share the news about my new employment. I hated that I was melting into a puddle around other people, rather than in the private sanctuary of my own home.
      
Less than an hour later, I walked down the hall of our local clinic to receive my allergy shot. While waiting for my turn, I noticed the nurse appeared upset about something. She kept sniffling and wiping her face and eyes. When I walked in for my turn, I wasn't sure what to say. I wanted to ask if she was okay, but she was trying so hard to pull herself together that I didn't want to make that harder on her. But feeling the need to console, I said, "It's okay. I've been crying all day too!" She gave me a surprised look then a quiet laugh and began chatting with me.
     
I earnestly wanted to assure her that her tears, for whatever reason, were okay. I felt no judgment towards her, no demands that she disguise her vulnerability and put on a professional face. Why do I find revealing my own brokenness so difficult?
    
I know God created us with careful intricacy, and I know that our emotional being is as real as the physical being that moves and speaks. While we have attached shame and weakness to our tears, he designed them as a cleansing release for us, a process as natural as breathing for everyone in the human race:
     
Hannah cried bitterly to God, (1 Samuel 1:10)
He collects our tears in a bottle, (Psalm 56:8)
David drenched his pillow in tears, (Psalm 6:6)
A woman wiped the feet of Christ
with her tears, (Luke 7:38)
Jesus wept. (John 11:35)
   
No condemnation. No commands to toughen up and hide our true feelings. No turning his head if we approach him without a mask. No raincheck to come back later when we have gained control of our emotions.
   
He listens, He accepts. He reaches, He cares. He holds, He understands. He cries too.
     
He cries too.

Our world is broken, and so are we. We hurt, and our hearts break. God hurts, and his heart breaks.
   
We don't have to be ashamed. We don't have to hide. We don't have to put on a good performance and pretend that we are too strong for pain and tears. We can simply....
   
Cry.