My tears and joys are all yours.

 My Tears and Joy Are All Yours

A Reflection on Psalm 56:8 and Psalm 30:5

My tears and joy are all Yours—I hold nothing back.

The laughter that bubbles from a grateful heart,

And the sorrow that treads the lonely, weeping track,

Both are offerings, set apart.

You have taken account of my wanderings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book? (Psalm 56:8)

My tears—the ones I cry in secret, in the dark,

When grief is fresh and hope seems far away.

You collect each one like precious, liquid art,

And promise joy that will dawn with the day.

My joy—the laughter that spills from a soul set free,

The delight of walking in Your light,

The gladness that rises, unbidden, like a sea,

When Your presence turns my wrong to right.

Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)

So take them both, Lord—the salty and the sweet,

The ache and the ecstasy, the loss and the gain.

For every tear You redeem, and every joy complete,

Are woven into Your eternal, unbroken chain.

My tears and joy are all Yours—I give them now.

No longer mine to hoard or hide.

You are the keeper of my heart, and this my vow:

In weeping or in dancing, I will abide.

Amen.