"Cowboy Tears"

Cowboys don’t cry, and many such lies,

Were told to me when I was young,

My crying was rare, but just to be fair,

It was a song many have sung.

You had to be tough, and manly enough,

To hold back the things that you felt,

Just don’t let it show, and let no one know,

But play the cards your life is dealt.

I guess through the years, when I didn’t shed tears,

They stayed in some dark, secret place,

And then at strange times, with some desperate climbs,

They sometimes leaked right down my face.

I wiped ‘em off quick, my throat would get thick,

And I’d quietly rein it away,

Hoped nobody saw, my old heart unthaw,

Wondered how to be okay.

But those sad old good-byes, and hopeless old tries,

Sometimes really touch me down deep,

Then to my surprise, tears flowed from my eyes,

I tried but I just couldn’t keep,

Them all down inside, though I still tried to hide,

The emotion that loped in my soul,

But freedom, you see, is transparency,

And important if you want to be whole.

The good Book has said, and there I have read,

My tears God will bottle and keep,

If with tears we sow, there is great joy we know,

That will come with the harvest we reap.

I don’t care a rip, but I’ll give you a tip,

About how a cowboy should cry,

We should not keep it hid, our pride we get rid,

And to all our ego we die.

Show the boy who you are, and don’t hide the scar,

Of the hurt that the Good Lord can heal,

Real men let it go, so folks can all know,

What it means to be cowboy and real.

“Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy…” (Psalm 126:5, NLT)

The scriptures clearly place value on our tears. Psalm 56:8 tells us that God records our tears and keeps track of our sorrows. This is not to glorify emotionalism. We all know people who cry the proverbial “crocodile” tears and use emotion to manipulate others. But the genuine, sincere expression of emotion is a postitive in scripture. This is especially true when we are laboring to sow righteous seed. Sometimes all you can do is get the seed in the ground, even when your heart is breaking. But joy comes with the harvest.

Lord, help us to sow with tears so as to reap a joyful harvest, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Jason Rich, jasonrichstudios.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Jason, and God bless you.