Before the Protestant Reformation, this low-growing plant, Lily of the Valley, was known as Mary's Tears. Notice the small bell-shaped flowers lining the stems, forming a kind of stream. It is a lovely and tender demonstration of heaven's concern for us in our destructive sin, vulnerability and terrible error. But our joys too - tears of joy.
Tears of joy at a baby's birth.
Tears of joy at a being given a particularly sensitive gift.
Tears of joy witnessing acts of great generosity or courage.
Tears of joy seeing or hearing beauty that moves us emotionally.
Tears of joy and gratitude at surviving an accident, sickness or surgery.
Tears of joy at having achieved some personal success or victory.
But I'm also thinking of George Floyd — who while he was face down on the pavement, his hands bound behind his back, a man's knee on his neck and the knees of other men pressed against his back, restricting his lungs, after calling out for his mother, still addressed his killer, courteously, "I can't breathe, officer." That's a scene for streaming tears. In the days following, some white folks re-enacted his death mockingly. That's a scene for tears too.
Some Christians don't make the connections — Jesus was bound in the garden and in prison, rendering him powerless. Jesus was mocked. Jesus was surrounded by complicit onlookers. Jesus called to his Mother, who stood under the cross, the instrument of his execution. Jesus died by suffocation. Mary's Tears ~ Our Tears.
