Daily Meditation: "Tears"

SCRIPTURE

God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither shall there be anguish (sorrow and mourning) nor grief nor pain anymore, for the old conditions and the former order of things have passed away. - Revelation 21:4

REFLECTION

This passage from Revelation is one I read at every Celebration of Life that I perform. Every time I read the words, hear them come out of my mouth, and look at the faces to whom I am speaking them, the profound impact of what they mean always land on me in a new way.

This past year (and what does it say about 2020 that in one week I’ve already done two meditations about looking back at the year two months before the year is over?) there have been a lot of tears over a great many things. I have already reflected numerous times over the course of these meditations about the simultaneous things we as FCCWP have navigated this year. We continue to navigate through troubled waters and all of them bring too many tears.

To imagine a time when God wipes away all of those tears and from that moment forward there will never be any more sorrow, crying, pain, even death itself is one of the most moving and inspiring passages of scripture. I always think of wiping away the tears of my children when they have been hurt or frightened or sad and wishing I could tell them that everything was alright and that they’d never cry or be hurt or sad again...and mean it.

To read these words from John’s vision of a time when our parent God will actually do that for us, to wipe away the tears of our pain and hurt and genuinely tell us such times will never come again is as moving a promise as we could ever hope to hear, and one we could all frankly use right about now.

I have no idea what the future will hold for us. I do know that there are bound to be more time for tears. But I also know there is a day yet to come when those tears will be wiped away and tears will never come again.

I look forward to that day.

PRAYER

God Of Healing, thank you for your promise of a day without tears and for giving us the faith and courage to move and live forward to that day.

Amen.

Peace,

Shawn