Weep

"Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children." Luke 23:28


I am used to weeping. Being the mother of three girls and having three sisters, there has been significant weeping in my life. Some of it has been out of frustration, some from the cuts and scraps of life and some from the incredible crushing losses the face us as a family and as people from time to time. Broken hearts and broken promises, false friends and partners, and the overwhelnming cruel rejection that the world hands out so carelessly - all of these bring on weeping. Tears can clenas the soul and push the ache out, finally.

Jesus sees women, beloved women around him and calls them daughters. They are his family and they are weeping. Their loss is so iminent and real. The ache is overhwelming. Jesus instructs them to weep and ache for their children, the ones who need their love and protection. The world is a cruel place, and soemtimes it seems as if evil wins. The moments ahead were dark ones, and Jesus knew all too well the ugliness of human hearts.

Today, I want to have a soft heart, one that is able to weep and ache in the correct time. All too often, especially when exhausted as I have been, I lose the capacity for tenderness and empathy. Not becuase I want to or am cruel by nature, but just that being tired takes the gifts from us all. I ask God to renew and restore me today so that I might have a new level of compassion and care for my family and neighbors. I ask God for a soft heart, one capable of weeping, one that aches with compassion for the world.