Honey, Do You Need a Tissue?

We girls understand getting emotional, even if guys sometimes don’t.  There are just times when one thing stacks up on top of another until the tower of turmoil becomes overwhelming.  Then there is nothing to do but to plop down in the middle of the floor and have a good long sob.  And by sob, I don’t mean the pretty kind of movie sob in which the heroine’s eyes glisten like diamonds afterwards.  I mean the full-on runny nose, splotchy red face akin to the chicken pox, and uncontrollable crying kind.  Trust me—I take the drive-thru with sunglasses on after that kind of a sob fest. 

And then there are the moments of shining glory in which emotions go the other way and the uncontrollable giggle fit starts.  It always happens at the worst moment, in front of people you most want to impress.  Suddenly you’re gasping for air, choking out a word at a time as you try to continue speaking without completely losing it.  Going, going…gone. 

While my family will tell you I’m not the most emotional girl in the house, when I have an emotional moment, I have a moment, and those aggravating emotions can seem to be all inconvenience and embarassment. 

But when I stopped to imagine the alternative—life without emotions—the prospect wasn’t attractive.  It’s true that the depths of loneliness, the twisting pain of being forgotten, the blackness of brokenness, and the bitterness of hurt would all disappear. 

But so would my knowledge of my need for my Savior. 

And so would my joy in finding His bigness and greatness far bigger and greater than my most back-breaking load. 

Not to mention missing out on heart-to-heart connections with those I love. 

In the words of Jesus to those whose emotions are salved by superficial hankies,

“But woe to you who are rich,

For you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full,

For you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now,

For you shall mourn and weep.” {Luke 6:24-25}

By contrast,

“Blessed are you who hunger now,

For you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now,

For you shall laugh.

Blessed are you when men hate you,

And when they exclude you,

And revile you, and cast out your name as evil,

For the Son of Man’s sake.

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!

For indeed your reward is great in heaven,

For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.” {Luke 6:21-23}

When it all gets to be too much, and heartache moves in and tears threaten to flood your heart, remember that those painful emotions are a neon flashing light pointing to the cross where Jesus Himself cried out to God. 

When your heart yearns deeply to be loved by someone special, know that it indeed needs to be filled with love by Jesus every day. 

And when joy gushes from every pore of your being, don’t hold it in—leap for joy!

Treat your emotions as a daily (or hourly!) reminder to take your eyes off of yourself and put them on the glorious Christ. 

But in the meantime, if ever you see me in the middle of the floor with a red-spotted face, you'll know to bring the tissues!
 

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Picture © 2009 Kammuri Makoto, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.