Grant me tears, O Lord, to blot out my sins; may I not cease from them, O God, until I have been purified...When I contemplate my sins, grant me tears always, for great are the claims of tears on my cheeks.

  - Anonymous, Grant Me Tears (Old Irish, 9th century)

You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle.

  - Psalm 56.8

The surest way to a happy New Year will be to begin it - and sustain it - in tears.

The Christian life leads through the Valley of Baca (Hebrew: "weeping"), and that for many reasons.

Loss of a loved one, for example. Major setbacks or disappointments - these, too, will bring us to tears. The suffering and misery of so many in the world should also cause us to weep before the Lord.

Most of all, however, we should weep for our sins. Meditate on Psalm 88, in which the Savior cries out through His suffering. Remind yourself: we did that. We brought that on Him. And, as if that weren't bad enough, we continue to sin against Him every day.

And while the only tears most people want to see in our churches are tears of joy, without tears of repentance - real, deep, life-changing repentance - we will never know the deep joy, pleasure, and happiness of the Lord Himself stretching out within and through us.

If Jesus has your tears in a bottle, how big is that bottle? Is it the size of one of those huge containers you find at water coolers? Or is it more like a small aspirin bottle?

Let me ask that another way: How big is the container Jesus would have to construct to hold your sins? Should not your "bottle" be at least as large?

The Church today is in need of weeping, of genuine, heartfelt tears of repentance. And our experience of the Christian faith will never be anything greater than it is today - which for most of us is just kind of OK - until we come before the Lord with weeping, weeping, weeping for the enormity of our sins.

He has a wealth of joy to pour out on you, but you must prime that pump with your tears.

Today at The Fellowship of Ailbe

ReVision - The neuroscientists are at it again, trying to reduce us all the lab rats.

In the Gates - Looking on nakedness. 'Nuff said?

Thank you, all of you who care about this ministry. All your kind notes of prayer and encouragement are most appreciated, and your generous gifts to the ministry help us get through each month with the Lord's provision, channeled through your faithfulness. Susie and I pray that you will have a blessed New Year.

T. M. Moore, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.