Start talking to your tears!

        I recently read a devotion from John Piper that really resonated with me.  After recounting his thoughts with a few friends, I'm sharing it here as well since it might prove encouraging to some other folks. 
       I've always loved the verse Piper discusses--"Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him." (Psalm 126:5–6)
        Here's what Piper wrote-- 

"There is nothing sad about sowing seed. It takes no more work than reaping. The days can be beautiful. There can be great hope of harvest.
Yet the psalm speaks of sowing “in tears.” It says that someone “goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing.” So, why are they weeping?
I think the reason is not that sowing is sad, or that sowing is hard. I think the reason has nothing to do with sowing. Sowing is simply the work that has to be done, even when there are things in life that make us cry.
The crops won’t wait while we finish our grief or solve all our problems. If we are going to eat next winter, we must get out in the field and sow the seed, whether we are crying or not.
If you do that, the promise of the psalm is that you will 'reap with shouts of joy.' You will 'come home with shouts of joy, bringing [your] sheaves with [you].'  Not because the tears of sowing produce the joy of reaping, but because the sheer sowing produces the reaping, and you need to remember this even when your tears tempt you to give up sowing.
So, here’s the lesson: When there are simple, straightforward jobs to be done, and you are full of sadness, and tears are flowing easily, go ahead and do the jobs with tears. Be realistic. Say to your tears, 'Tears, I feel you. You make me want to quit life. But there is a field to be sown (dishes to be washed, car to be fixed, sermon to be written).'
Then say, on the basis of God’s word, 'Tears, I know that you will not stay forever. The very fact that I just do my work (tears and all) will in the end bring a harvest of blessing. So, go ahead and flow if you must. But I believe — though I do not yet see it or feel it fully — I believe that the simple work of my sowing will bring sheaves of harvest. And my tears will be turned to joy.'"

          AMEN and AMEN!  I loved that--talk to your tears! 
          It's like I've shared repeatedly--don't listen to yourself; preach to yourself.  Talk to those tears. Proclaim the truth of the gospel to your weary, burdened heart, and then--whether you feel like it or not--simply begin doing the next right thing God has put before you.  It might be as simple as making a phone call or making your bed, but sometimes in life we have to choose to "sow in tears" while trusting that God will someday, somehow enable us to reap a harvest of blessing in the future if we "do not give up." (Gal.6:9) 
          Today, let's choose to talk to our tears, telling them "'Flow if you must,' but the Lord has work for me to do.  And I trust that if I will get busy obeying and doing this next right thing, my God will send future blessing on my present faithfulness.  'And my tears will be turned to joy.'" 
          Because never forget--the Lord who has called you is faithful, and He. Will. Do. It.
(I Thess.5:24)
          To God be the glory.