Tears

 ~ Grace Gift ~
Tears

You Yourself have recorded my wanderings. Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your records?
Psalm 56:8

picture courtesy of http://www.bottleoftears.com/blog/

 Did you ever wonder why God would keep bottles of our tears?

As a mom of five, I would keep my kids' first-lost baby teeth, wrapped lovingly in a Kleenex and kept in an envelope and placed ever so lovingly in my jewelery box. I'm not sure why I did that other than I just wanted a little piece of their babyhood to keep with me forever. Sadly, I no longer have those precious little teeth but what about God? And what about our tears?

Does He REALLY keep our tears? And why?

http://www.bottleoftears.com/blog/

There was a Roman custom of bottling the tears of mourners as a memorial.
"Lachrymatories", or tear bottles, are where surviving relatives dropped their tears for their deceased family and friends. They were buried with their ashes, or in their urns.

Hundreds of small bottles dating back to 300 B.C. were found by Middle Eastern tomb raiders around 100 A.D. Theory was developed that they were part of the mourning ritual where mourners would cry into the bottles as a sign of respect. It was also believed that mourners would be paid to attend the funerals of the wealthy: filling tear bottles & wailing loudly to create dramatic impact. These items were rare in most burials, but common among the wealthy. 

 Tear Bottle - 1st c Roman -
"There is a sacredness in tears. They are not a mark of weakness but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, of unspeakable love." - Washington Irving

 Wow, according to Washington Irving, as he so eloquently puts it, tears are messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition and of unspeakable love. Interesting- and I will come back to this thought in a minute.

 O.k, so Roman tradition may have collected tears as a mourning process but still, what about God? Does He actually keep shelves of bottles of our tears and a big ole book filled with events that ever took place that made us cry?

 What is the significance of tears?

 And just what are tears, anyway?

Here is a link to some interesting discoveries about tears.
* I hope it's ok to use their link on my blog.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-microscopic-structures-of-dried-human-tears-180947766/?no-ist

She bathed His feet with her warm tears as they dropped one by one unto His feet. Luke 7:37

 Jesus wept. John 11:35

 I am weary with my groaning; all night I make my bed swim; I drench my couch with my tears.
My eye wastes away because of grief, it grows old because of all my enemies.
Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; for the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping.
The LORD has heard my supplication; The LORD will receive my prayer.
(Psalm 6:6-9)

 For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet
from falling.
(Psalm 116:8)

 He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces.
(Isaiah 25:8)

 Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD, and they shall come back from the land of
the enemy.
Jeremiah 31:16

 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. (Revelation 21:4)

 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
(Isaiah 35:10)

 The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
(Revelation 7:17)

 He has seen you cry until you can’t cry any more.  He has witnessed your heartache. He has seen your tears when you have cried all alone in the dark, not sure of where to turn or where to go.  He has recorded each one in His book and collected your tears in the bottle He has just for you.  How precious you are to Him!
Let the tears flow and know that your God cares for you intimately and with great passion!

 Father, Thank you for seeing my tears and for the promise that I am never alone in my sorrow.  Amen.

The Good Humor Man

Grace Gift
Ice Cream

Psalm 119:103
How sweet Your word is to my taste-- sweeter than honey in my mouth.

 One of my favorite childhood memories is of the Good Humor Man and his truck. One could hear the jingling of the bells as he drove slowly through the neighborhood. It's not so much that we ever got to buy anything from him but we loved to run to the curb, just to wave and watch him drive past us... * Nana saying, " Don't get too close to the curb or he'll think you are going to buy something." I never minded not being able to buy treats from the truck; it was enough just to look at all the pictures of the different treats, in full color, plastered on an ice cream truck. Oh, yum! Anyways, Nana always kept her freezer stocked with all sorts of ice cream treats so after waving at the Good Humor Man and lusting after the cool treats I saw on the truck, I'd run inside and grab a frozen treat of our own. Nana always said we could get at least twice as much ice cream from the store for the same price as one little treat from the truck. Store bought ice cream treats were just fine with me.

Wouldn't it be awesome if we could love eating up His Word like this? To be so filled with desire... to not be able to get enough...... * As you know, I Google search most of my pictures...note the name on the Bible...

 For me, each encounter with scripture has to be a search for something that is relevant to my life. I need to read until I hear Him speak in a way that reaches to the core of me. If it comes quickly, I may not need to read further. But if it takes more time than I had planned, I need to keep reading until my soul, heart, and mind have been revitalized.

Proverbs 16:24
Pleasant words are a honeycomb:
sweet to the taste and health to the body.

Proverbs 24:13
Eat honey, my son, for it is good; honey from the comb is sweet to your taste.

Psalm 34:8
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

   

A Day That Began At Sunset

Grace Gifts
Evenings And Mornings
Light After Darkness

Genesis 1:3-5  “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”

 The beginning of time was marked by darkness. Genesis 1:2 , “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.”

 Light came after darkness, indicating the markers of a full day. In the Jewish tradition, days follow this pattern of night first, then day. Still today, practicing Jews observe the Sabbath beginning on sunset of Friday until sunset on Saturday.

Genesis 1 reveals that the days of the week were originally measured “evening” then “morning.” Each description of the seven days of creation uses this format, clearly indicating a day that began at sunset.

 Genesis 1 marks days from evening to morning as a natural extension of God turning darkness into light.

Garden Filled With Flowers

Grace Gift
Gardens Full Of Flowers

Luke 12:27 
Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Lily

I was working my Word Search puzzle book this evening when I realized what lovely flowers were in that search. Some of them I've never heard of before. It got me to thinking how I've neglected this blog that I use to love posting about His glorious blessings- everyday, simple blessings that we often take for granted.
Maybe I can continue to spend time adding to my  list of 10,000 gifts that I am thankful for.

Enjoy looking at His creative designs in flowers.

The Purple Amaryllis by CanadianGothStalker

    

Azaleas

       

Camellia Flower Soft Close Up Bud

Look at the delicate layers of tiny pink hearts.

White Carnation

What a  delicate yet fragrant flower. My Pa use to get my sister and me white carnations on special occasions. When I grew older and started dating, if a fella bought me a carnation, I was hooked.

White and purple African Daisy

Eglantine

Eglantine? Did you know there was a flower with that name?
Again, look at the delicate heart shaped petals.

Fuchsia

Look at these! They look like hummingbirds, drinking from the flowers.

Gardenia

Again, notice the heart shaped petals... with a twist.

Mauve Geranium Flowers

Uhmmmmmm .... do you see what I see?

Hyacinth 'Delft Blue'

Hydrangea

Impatiens

Yep, I see them, too. :-)

Iris

This one looks like fireworks exploded.

Jonquil

Even this jonquil wants to bend its' petals into a heart shape.

magnolia

Okay, this heart shaped petal thing is getting weird. :-)

marigold

periwinkle-blue-flower

phlox

rose

Smilax

Birds-foot trefoil blossom

 Tulips 

Violet Flower

Wisteria Flower 

Zinnia Flower

I don't know about you but I sure did see a LOT of heart shaped petals in these flowers.

Bleeding Heart Flowers

 Thank You, Lord for putting Your signature of Love on even the smallest things like flowers.