All My Tears

for Kate with love

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

How fitting that I would unwrap this tiny vessel today.

Many years ago, on another continent far from home, I made a sorrowful journey through grief after the loss of a much-anticipated baby girl. My friend Kate, upon returning from the small Mediterranean village of Hammamet, Tunisia, brought me this beautiful, delicate glass bottle. Attached to it she had written in her lovely, flowing script, 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)

Today I found it tucked in a cardboard box among teapots and china bunnies. Time for this beauty to re-adorn my shelf and my heart.

All my tears of the past few months are surely in a very, very big bottle.

It is said that in ancient times along the Mediterranean Sea sailors’ wives would wear small bottles called tear catchers around their necks to collect the tears they shed in their husbands’ long absences. They said goodbye from the shore, knowing they may not see each other again as men ventured out to distant places through treacherous waters. Should he return safely, she would present him with the bottle, brimming with her tears, a gift of her abiding loyalty and love.

The Hebrew word nod used in Psalm 56:8 for sorrows is also translated wanderings. According to the New English Translation Bible commentary, it refers to the psalmist’s “changeable circumstances of life” and may be translated “misery.”

Misery in the midst of changing circumstances beyond our control can certainly cause us to wander. 

What sweet comfort it is to know God keeps track of my treacherous waters, my sorrowful wanderings. #hope #comfort Share on X

He collects all my tears in his bottle. He knows my misery, and my joy. 

The difference between God and the ancient legend of the nautical tear catchers is that God stays by my side as I brave the deeps. I need not wonder if I will see Him again, for He never leaves me. I am certain He never will, and one day we will reach that other shore. On that great Day, He will give me the gift of his abiding loyalty and love, the gift of eternal joy in His presence. All my tears will be a distant memory.

My Savior Jesus was a man of sorrows. He understood the path of pain. He endured it and overcame it that you and I would know complete joy. 

One day there will be no more tears, no more sorrow.

Lent is a time to remember the Man of Sorrows who secured our joy. The secret beauty of the season is that He understands our wanderings and stays by our side as we navigate life’s rough waters. He catches all my tears in His bottle and records every one in His book. He will never leave my side, and one day I will safely reach that distant shore.

Are you hurting today? Not one tear will be lost. Trust Him.

Lord, I will trust you with my sorrows and my joys. Thank you for catching all my tears in Your bottle. Amen. 

@audreycfrank