Word of Hope: A Soul Fully Alive
I am surprised at how many men I meet who laud the fact that they don’t cry. They make it sound like it is an accomplishment. In my mind there are few bigger tragedies than dry-eyed men unable to weep for what matters.
Victor Hugo who wrote Les Misérables (which was my dad’s favorite musical) said, “Behind every dry eye is a dead soul.”
Dad and I often talked about this. How much danger enters the world through men unable to grieve or unable to shed tears of joy. In their passionless existence they eliminate the need for heart and become more mechanical than alive. The tearless man is capable of great harm, secrecy, diminishment of others, and degradation of the essence of love.
Dad understood this because he had lived like this at one time but then grace entered his heart and changed him forever. Dad believed in the holy gift of tears. He understood that tears are the sign of a soul fully alive.
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. – Hebrews 5:7
