Puddle of Tears

Puddle of Tears
by Danl Hall on Friday, November 5, 2010 at 8:39pm

What comes to mind when you see...Puddle of Tears? For me, it conjures up a bunch of things. One of things I remember is when Dad went to heaven. After he left, the nurses led us into another room. I was standing up leaning on the wall with my hands palm down on the wall and my head hanging between my arms. My tears were flowing along with flashes of my life with him and how good he was to me throughout my life. The pain was bad, but I had peace that he was in heaven and I would see him again. The tears were forming a puddle on the carpet below. That was a puddle of tears of joy mixed with sadness I remember.

Another puddle was tears of happiness when we prayed with our children as they accepted the gift of salvation. The Holy Spirit has a direct line on my tear ducts. My kids are much smarter than I could ever be, so they understood at a young age what Jesus did for them. The tears started flowing again each time, making a puddle on the floor below. Those puddles were joy.

In 1990, there were many tears of joy flowing down on the altar of the Pikeville Freewill Baptist Church when I let go of my pride and trusted Him that gave so much for me. After the tears stopped or slowed, an immense exhiliration wiped every pressure, guilt, hurt that I had. What a puddle of tears that was! I still have those times when I get down and think that He is far away. But then, the puddle starts anew to let me know He is in control.

Society tells men it aint cool to cry. For the most part, I am a stoic guy, but when the Holy Spirit speaks, He usually does it through my tears, discernment or encouragement. But there is much in a puddle of tears that says volumes.

Which brings me to why I mention the puddle of tears. In my study, I am reading Radical by David Platt along with a review of Matthew. In Matthew, when Jesus is in the garden prior to the crucifixion, He is praying that "this cup may pass from me"... and when He was praying His sweat became as drops of blood. I agree with David Platt who stated that there were probably a puddle of tears there as well. Jesus knew that the full wrath of God was being ready to be poured out on him for the payment for "our" sins. How He loved us and still does to this day to do that for us! That puddle of tears had my name written on them. They had yours, my kids, wife, mom, dad, brothers and sisters names as well.

So when I get all wrapped up in myself and say "aint it awful!", someone cuts me off in traffic, is mean to my wife and kids, or when the ones I love have pain...I think of the puddle of tears in the garden. Nothing will or can ever top that. Truly, when the book says, "greater is He that is in you, than he who is in the world..." you have to think about the puddle of tears and know that it will be ok.

Love you, mean it...

Danl