A popular myth in our day says: “Strong people don’t cry.” Why, then, do they have tear ducts?

The truth is: tears are probably the most ignored human resource. Tears are an outlet for pain, a relief for grief. Genuine crying can comfort the calamity of a broken heart.

Tears are a sign that someone has moved beyond mere intellectual understanding to deeply felt emotion — beyond analysis to caring. Tears often reveal heart-felt compassion and concern.

Tears communicate far more effectively than words. When we “weep with those who weep,” we experience one of the most profund human connections.

Tears are frequently indicative of humility and brokenness — an admission that life is far more significant than mere image and appearance. To shed genuine, heart-felt tears is to touch the inner reality of the human spirit.

Humans haven’t always believed the myth that says that tears are a sign of weakness. Take the ancient Hebrews for instance. They believed that real men, tough men, know how to cry.

King David, a warrior and man’s man, said: “I eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears.” And: “I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping.” He also said: “When I weep and fast, I must endure scorn.”

Jeremiah was known as “the weeping prophet.” A popular song from the Jewish Babylonian captivity said: “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.” When Nehemiah heard about the heard about the condition of his fellow Jews in Jerusalem, he said: “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept.”

Paul of Tarsus said: “For, as I have often told you before and now say again, even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.” And: “I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears.” He also said: “Be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.”

If you examine their writings, you will discover that the examples I quoted are not exceptions. Most of the ancient Hebrews freely cried. They did so publicly and without embarrassment.

When we hold back our tears, we cut ourselves off from much of our humanity. Why not let your tears go, the next time they want to flow?

Much in our society is dreadfully disturbing nowadays. Yet, for the most part, we remain cool and calm. Perhaps we could use some passionate weeping.

I've spent 5 1/3 years as a chaplain in an 86 bed rehabilitation center for men. Here are my observations:

Addicts and alcoholics are incredibly attractive people when they are sober. They are caring, intelligent, and sensitive.
Many people have had terrible upbringings. Their parents have verbally and physically abused them, abandoned them, given them drugs and alcohol, and trained them in self-destruction.
Hungry, desperate, broken people recover from their addictions and live positive, productive lives. I've seen dozens of men do it.
Most human beings mistakenly think they are good people. After addicts tell me about their trail of tremendous self-destruction, crime, wrongdoing, and inflicting misery on other people, I ask them; "What kind of person are you?" Almost all of them answer: "I'm a good person."
People who are not hungry and desperate for a better lifestyle, prefer their familiar misery and pain over unfamiliar success and happiness.
Humans lose their hunger and desperation very quickly after their circumstances begin to improve. After a few weeks of getting better, most men I've worked with become satisfied and complacent with themselves. They quickly begin to think that they are fine and dandy.
Race and class are meaningless myths. I've worked with many homeless men, many middle class men, and a few rich men. I've worked with whites and blacks and a few hispanics. They may look different, but inside they are all the same.
Everybody needs two things: truth and love. To improve, people must overcome denial, openly face the facts of their sin and self-destruction, and humbly repent. They need to see the truth boldly proclaimed with compassion, tenderness, and tears.
Life is short and should be treasured. I've known at least 17 men (many much younger than me) to die; either in their addiction (violence, overdose, accidents) or of an illness brought about and/or complicated by their addiction.
People need parenting. Jesus called it discipling. People need someone who is living a life of victory over self-destruction to warn them, to challenge them, to wake and shake them up, and to demonstrate heart-rending love toward them; not from afar, but in an ongoing, face to face, intimate relationship.

Here is how British intellectual C.S. Lewis describes the most shocking thing ever said:

"Among the Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if He was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says He has always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time. Now let us get this clear. Among Pantheists, like the Indians (from India), anyone might say that he was a part of God, or one with God: there would be nothing very odd about it. But this man, since He was a Jew, could not mean that kind of God. God, in their language, meant the Being outside the world Who had made it and was infinitely different from anything else. And when you have grasped that, you will see that what this man said was, quite simply, the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips."

I woke up recently wondering about what is the most amazing thing I have ever seen God do. I have seen God set dozens of alcoholics and addicts free and enable them to live a godly lifestyle. I hear from some of them frequently and it always amazes me what God has done and is doing for them.

I prayed for a guy once to receive the Holy Spirit and he began to speak in perfect French. (He had the accent and everything and sounded like my high school French teacher.) He kept saying "I love you, Lord Jesus," in French. (I can't spell well or I'd write it down for you.) It blew my mind. He had no idea what he was saying.

However, what may be the most amazing thing I have ever seen God do, happened in Mayfield, Kentucky. I had been the pastor of a very small and rather dry Cumberland Presbyterian Church for a few months and had been preaching about God's healing power.

One night a woman in the church almost bled to death from an ulcer. She lived with her mother who called 911 and she got to the hospital just in time. After X-rays, the doctors said she had to have emergency surgery to stop the bleeding.

She called me and said she wanted me to bring the elders of the church and pray for her. (I had been preaching on James 5:14-16 which tells sick people to call for the elders of the church to pray with them for healing.)

I called our elders (who thought I was weird) and asked them if they would go to the hospital with me. A couple of them met me there and we went in and prayed for the lady. I prayed that her surgery go well, but one of the elders, Lee, prayed that God would heal her.

After the prayer, Lee said to her, "I think you need to ask for another X-ray before you let them do the emergency surgery." She did and the new X-ray showed that she had no ulcer. The doctors let her go home and she was completely well.

As I told my wife about this experience this morning, my eyes filled with tears. It was an amazing demonstration of the power of the living God!

Motivation Quotation: "Nine tenths of the news, as printed in the papers, is pseudo-news, manufactured events. Some days ten tenths. My own experience has been that renunciation of this self-hypnosis is no sacrifice of reality at all. To 'fall behind' in this sense is to get out of the big cloud of dust that everybody is kicking up, to breathe and see a little more clearly." --Thomas Merton

Motivation Thoughts: I used to be a big news consumer -- faithfully watching two or three national and local news broadcasts daily; reading the paper every day; reading two or three national news magazines weekly. I was absorbed by the so-called news -- addicted to it.

One day it dawned on me that most of what I was watching and reading was negative and depressing. So years ago, I stopped watching news programs; stopped reading news magazines. I still "read" the daily Tennessean for about 5 minutes and listen to NPR about ten minutes after taking my daughter to school, but that is all.

The funny thing is that I am still informed. I think Thomas Merton was right: 9/10ths of the news in nothing but dust being kicked up to grab people's attention so media can sell advertising and make money. To step out of that cloud of dust is very refreshing.

I now spend my old news-time reading biography, self-help, history, spiritual growth, social justice, recovery, political commentary, and positive thinking materials. Instead of feeding on news dust, now I consume inspiration, hope, and techniques for living a better life.

For me, Thomas Merton's quote was right on. Could his comments be right for you?