Tears and Laughter

  Why are we so scared of tears?  I love the gift of tears, but that doesn't mean I want anyone to see me in my tears.... I love the gift of laughter, but I do not laugh nearly often enough...    What is the reason for this phenomenon?  Probably because (for me at least) emotions are hard to share; we want to keep them to ourselves. Especially crying.  It is especially not fun for us super emotionally geared people. 
   So what is my point?  Recently our church had council meeting (the service we do before communion) and we were giving our testimonies.  It was getting closer to my turn and seeing the tears of people before me made my throat start growing a lump.  When it came to my turn I tried to squeak out what I wanted to say but the tears were already rolling.  Here I was crying in the middle of the church.  After I gave my testimony and sat down, I was flooded with the feeling of God being with us. He was watching us share our hearts and He recorded our tears.
   Tears are healing.  Sometimes when I am filled with anger or sadness, I just wish I could cry and get it over with.  When I do cry and call on God for his strength and wisdom and forgiveness there is a wonderful peace that spreads over me.
  Let's not be so quick to hide our tears. Yes, they reveal something that we may not want to be revealed, but they can share our true hearts.  It is good to be honest by the bys...  Please remind me of this when I am biting my lip and blinking profusely :)
  Now laughter, I know a girl who loves laughing and it is contagious.  She doesn't laugh to fill the quietness or to make fun of someone, she laughs because of the joy that fills her heart and bubbles over.  She laughs because Jesus gave her that joy.  Are we shining God's joy to others by laughing?  I know I don't often enough.
  So today, please don't be scared of your emotions, but embrace them. (In a good way of course)  Don't let your emotions control you but let them do for you what God intended them to do.  I don't mean we should be blubbering and laughing at anything all the time, I only mean we should be using them for God's glory and if that means stepping out of our comfort zones and crying in public we should do that.  If it means that we should laugh a bit more often because God gave us a tremendous amount of blessings, we should do that too... 
  What are your views on emotions?

 

Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

 

(you don't want dried bones do you?)