Have you ever received such painful news that you couldn’t think beyond that particular sentence? Where the world stood still and even a small child, so beautifully dressed as a princess, crawling into your lap to request a story, could hardly have removed you from your stupor? I sat in that grief late afternoon today, not able to move towards child-like faith just yet. I longed to share the news and reduce the burden but I could not. Only the grownups could know.

A torrent of tears flowed then and have mainly flowed since, just as the heavy rain that falls outside my window. Rosie the cat came close, more like a dog than a cat, in terms of empathy. She burrowed her head in my lap, flopping down next to me, commanding the attention which would give me necessary diversion for a minute.

She knows. Whoever said cats are selfish doesn’t know my Rosie. She reminds me of another cat I had long ago, affectionately nicknamed The Shy Grey Hunter. Rosie isn’t shy, but she sure does know how to provide comfort when comfort is needed.

It’s ok to let those tears fall. Sometimes it’s the very least we can do. I figure if Jesus could weep over someone He was going to raise to life, I certainly can weep over someone too. Tears are part of being human. Some of us cry more readily than others, but how ever many tears want to fall, that’s how many should.

Tonight the torrents flow; tomorrow I will be more resolute and once more I will bang on heaven’s door, asking for not a change in facts but a display of God’s truth in the matter. I leave you with one of the most profound verses in the Bible, too short to forget…

Jesus wept.

Psalm 56:8 NLT

⁸ You keep track of all my sorrows.^[a]
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book.