"THE TRACKS OF MY TEARS"

Tears!  Funny subject for today, huh?  I have been thinking about how important our tears are to God.

Psalms 56:8 in the NIV Bible says of David's sorrow:  "Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll--are they not in your record?" The New American Standard Bible puts it another way by saying:  "You have taken account of my wandering; Put my tears in Your bottle.  Are they not in Your book?

David realized that when we have intense sorrow over our sin, God sees and cares about it.

"Back in the day" Smokey Robinson had a popular song called "The Tracks Of My Tears".  It had to do with a breakup of a boy and girl, but some of the words are truly thought provoking:
       
          "People say I'm the life of the party because I tell a joke or two.
           Although I may be laughing loud and hearty, deep inside I'm blue.
           So take a good look at my face, you'll see my smile looks out of place.
           If you look closer, it's easy to trace the tracks of my tears!"

Sin is a great stress receiver.  It can affect our health, our countenance and our attitudes.  But the good news is, confession of that sin, is a great sin reliever!  "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."  (I John 1;9, NIV)  

My mentoring challenge for us is this:  How many people do we know who we see on Sunday in our church, perhaps sitting in the pew right beside us, and we ask them "How are you?"  99 times out of 100 their answer is "Fine"!  It is the answer we expect, so we go on our way.  But I wonder, if we really took some time to listen, and were sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading, we would see otherwise. They may be laughing on the outside, but crying for help on the inside.  Perhaps they are going through a trial and need a friend to listen, maybe they need someone to pray about something with them, or maybe they are dealing with a sin issue and just need to be reminded that God is faithful to forgive.

The first part of  Proverbs 14:13 (NASB) says:  "Even in laughter the heart may be in pain."    All I am saying is take some time, slow down, and "Take a good look at their face"!

Here is a card I made for just such a person:  I took a picture from a coloring book and transferred the image to paper with graphite paper and colored it with pencils.  I wanted to keep it very personal and used my own handwriting for the verse.  This is just a sample so you could do it as professional as you wish.  The inside is very simple as well and leaves plenty of room to write your own personal message to the person receiving it.