If you were to ask around, "What's one thing women are known for?" Both men and women would probably agree that women tend to be, "emotional." It's been scientifically proven, that while men think with their mind, women think with their hearts. If you look back at your mom, grandmother, or even your aunts (all women we tend to look up to), we realize that all strong women take everything to heart. Is this such a bad thing? Society has made crying seem like it's wrong, something that should be frowned upon because it makes the person look weak. I for one, am a crier. I'm the girl that sobs at the movie theaters, or when something tragic happens in a book, or just when I'm having a hard day. When looking back, it can actually be quite funny, but if you take a moment and think, "why was I crying?" It might reveal what's most important to your heart.
If you were to look up the definition of crying in the dictionary, what would you read? When I looked up crying on Google, "very great" appeared as the definition. As I scrolled down, " shed tears- especially as an expression of distress or pain," or "shout or scream, especially to express one's pain, fear, or grief." Taking a moment to analyze all definitions, the word that stood out to me wasn’t, fear, pain, or distress- but especially. It emphasizes that most of the time, people cry because their hurting or fearful- but what about when their joyful or relieved? Many of us have cried from happiness- if it's being able to see a loved one, receiving good news, or just because our hearts are happy; crying isn't always a bad thing.
There was a point in time where I was so embarrassed of crying- because honestly, it can be hard to hide your feelings with streams of mascara sliding down your cheek. However, as of recently I've realized that it's not such a bad thing. I was reading the book of Esther, and if you haven't read her story, I suggest you do. Esther was a young woman, probably around her late teens, early twenties that was given the task of saving her people. Esther was taken into a kingdom that did not know God, but through Esther, God'speople were saved. You're probably thinking, that's not such a big deal; for a woman in this time, it was. Esther had to be obedient to her Heavenly King in order to find favor with her earthly one. She did things that no queen should ever do, but it's through God's ultimate mercy that she found favor in the eyes of a pagan king.
You might be asking, "what does this have to do with crying?" Well, there's was a man in the kingdom who was born "hater of the Jews," and was determined to kill them all. This man, was the kings right hand; that being said he had the king's ear, and tricked the king into approving his plan. Esther, being a Jew and queen, was in distress. No one knew those were her people, but more importantly, how was she going to save them? The name of God isn't mentioned once in the book of Esther, but His presence is so evident through Esther and her relationship with the king. The kings desire is to give Esther what she wants, and all she asks for is for him and the "hater of the Jews," to join her for dinner, two nights in a row. On the second night, Esther reveals to the king what his right hand man has done- and let's just say the king wasn't happy. The "hater of the Jews," is now being sentenced to death, and is killed by the hands of his Jewish queen. After all this unveils, Esther falls at the feet of her king and cries. That just makes the hairs on my arms stand- because the queen who saved her people is at the feet of her king, crying. Those were probably tears of relief, because for one, the king didn't get angry and kill her. Secondly, because it was in that moment God revealed himself to her in such a mighty way- how could this not make her cry? She cried because her heart was moved by what He had done. This story shows us, that even queens need to cry to reveal what's hurting, what's missing or what's important to us.
Emily P. Freeman says, "Tears are tiny messengers sent from the deepest part of who we are. They whisper, 'here is where your heart beats strong.' This is a hint as to what makes you come alive." Never be ashamed of crying, or letting the tears out when your heart is moved. Whether it be in pain, or in joy, your tears reveal what makes your heart beat- they reveal the little details that make you so special.
