Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, November 9, 2025
This “tree tear” stopped me in my tracks this week. It has been a wet and windy week, and as we walked through a narrow part of our neighborhood trail, I suddenly saw this waterdrop suspended in space close beside us.
A snippet of song from decades ago surfaced in my mind: “Tears are a language God understands.”
I’m so glad He does. Sometimes I don’t understand my own tears, much less the tears of others. I cry when I’m embarrassed, when I’m angry, and when I stand and put my hand over my heart as the flag passes by in a parade. I cry when I vote, when memories of all kinds show up, and when kindness crosses my path. And much more.
I also don’t always understand my lack of tears, only that sometimes I’m too sad to cry. I think God understands our tearlessness, too.
I’m sure there are scientific or psychological explanations for all of this, but I don’t really need them right now. I just need to stop to think and thank.
Because in November I remember . . .
I remember how my mother died one wet and windy night, 43 years ago today, 3 days before her birthday.
My mother was the first person close to me to die, and I was shocked and shaken to my core . . . and way too sad to cry. I grieved for her, and grieved on behalf of my father, who lost his wife and best friend of 44 years.
I stop now, all these years later, to think less about her death and more about her life. I thank the Lord for a mother who loved Him and me, and kept me covered in her prayers. She wanted above all that He and I would become forever friends.
We have attended two memorial services this past week. I learned that the kind and gentle father of one of our friends died last Sunday. A longtime friend asked us to pray because her daughter was in jail. Another dear friend was hospitalized in ICU care. Tears mingle with my prayers.
Two of many Scripture passages that reassure us tears truly are a language God understands:
You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book.
(Psalm 56:8 NLT)
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
(Isaiah 53:3, 4 NKJV)
Thank You, God, for understanding the language of our tears; help us better understand the language of Your love and grace.
* “Tears are a Language God Understands” (Composed by Gordon Jensen, 1971)