on tears

“Tears are the answer to barrenness, to all loss and inadequacy. Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, in her book, A Faithful Farewell, has this to say about tears: ‘Tears release me into honest sorrow. They release me from the strenuous business of finding words. They release me into the childlike place where I need to be held and find comfort in embrace—in the arms of others and in the arms of God. Tears release me from the treadmill of anxious thoughts, and even from fear. They release me from the strain of holding them back. Tears are a consent to what is. They wash away, at least for a time, denial and resistance. They allow me to relinquish the self-deceptive notion that I’m in control. Tears dilute resentment and wash away the flotsam left by waves of anger.’

Not insignificantly, tears are salt water. Human life originated in the oceans. Tears connect us to the source of all life on this earth, within which prodigal fecundity trumps all barrenness.”