tears

"You never know what may cause them. The sight of the Atlantic Ocean can do it, or a piece of music, or a face you've never seen before. A pair of somebody's old shoes can do it...You can never be sure. But of this you can be sure. Whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay the closest attention. They are not only telling you something about the secret of who you are, but more often than not God is speaking to you through them..."
--Frederick Buechner

Out of the blue sometimes, emotions swell up from some deep well inside and in seconds can be spilling out of my eyes in tears. Sometimes I know immediately what they mean. Sometimes I have to search through my mental archives to find out what they mean. Sometimes words run through my mind at those same moments, and often they are the clues to what is happening deep inside. If these moments happen in the middle of my work day or while I'm surrounded by busyness and people, they can be easy to overlook and ignore. But if possible, I try to pay attention. I think tears can tell you something about your own heart, and I think often God is trying to speak to us through them.

I think it's also important to pay attention to those moments that bring tears to the eyes of the people around us. Sometimes those can be the most unexpected moments of all.