Honest Tears

He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him. Psalm 126: 6

Well, if I am not the worst person in the world to talk about planting, gardening, farming or the like, I don’t know who it would be…I am SO NOT a gardener or anything like that. The only time I actually planted anything was 2 years ago in my old house. I planted tomatoes that rotted at the bottom and some lilies that got eaten by ants. That is the extent of my gardening experience. However, my lack of skill does not impede me to understand the metaphor. I DO get it! I see the symbolism perfectly. I comprehend the struggle involved in putting the seeds in the ground, to then nurse them, water them, and weed them for days without end, without seeing anything…until one day, finally! A little sprout breaks through the ground. Pure joy!

That’s why I love planting analogies in Scripture. They capture the essence of life. One of those passages from His Word that I treasure is Psalm 126: 5-6. I heard Beth Moore talking about it years ago and it stuck with me. Then, like a week ago it resurfaced in my devotional to once again move my soul.

The prayer in my little book says: “Help me to see that the promise is not made to those who simply have tears but to those who are willing to sow seed in the midst of their tears.”

Reading those lines truly shook me. I have been doing a lot of crying lately, but have I been “sowing seeds” while I weep? The thought convicted me. 

The seed in Scripture usually refers to the Word, as we see Jesus explain it in Mark 4 and Matthew 13. “The farmer sows the Word,” Jesus says to His disciples in Mark 4: 14. In Psalm 126 we are the farmers. We are the ones who “go out weeping, carrying sees to sow.” We carry the seed, The Word, in us, hidden in our hearts (Psalm 119:11). So what are we to do with it as we go out weeping? Are we to keep it stored in our little seed packets until we feel better about ourselves and about life and our circumstances? Not according to Psalm 126. We are to carry the seed “to sow” it. Then, we will be able to return in joy, carrying the harvest of our hard work. Beth Moore went a step further and said that our tears will water the newly planted seed. It is our tears, therefore, what nourishes the soil that will receive that seed and to it grow. 

In the sorrowful and stressed-out-frazzled-state that I currently find myself in, I have to wonder if my tears have watered much else than my pillow. I admit that, sometimes, I have forgotten to do the planting. The promise is so wonderful and rewarding, however, that it becomes the perfect motivation to not let my tears flow in vain. I want to remember that their purpose is to nourish the soil where the seed will be planted further along. The calling is for our tears to have the purpose of preparing the soul of those who will receive the Word as we try to plant it in the midst of our weeping. 

Perhaps now I/we could dare to say that we are all gardeners after all. Our seed may not yield luscious produce or gorgeous flowers. But it will surely not be rotted or eaten away either, for the seed we seek to plant will bring about a crop of eternal value, through the power of Christ and by the honesty of our tears.

Linking with Whole Hearted Home and Simply Helping Him