Catch a Falling Tear
They're called tear bottles, tear catchers, tear vials, unguentaria, and lachrymatories. In them, tears are collected as a token of grief and mourning. Legends of tear catchers go back millennia to the days of Rome when, purportedly, mourners would bury their tear bottles with the dead as symbols of respect. It's also reported that professional mourners (called wailers) would be paid to collect their tears for the dead--the loader the wails and the fuller the tear bottles, the better the pay.
The use of tear bottles enjoyed a resurgence during the Victorian period of the 19th century. Mourners would place their tears in a bottle with porous stoppers. The complete evaporation of the tears would mark the end of the mourning period.
During the Civil War, women would catch their tears in a bottle and kept them to show their husbands how much they were missed while away on the field of battle.
Today, tear bottles are enjoying yet another resurgence in popularity. You can buy them online and in trendy gift stores to give as gifts and tokens, not just of mourning, but for shared tears empathy over present struggles, and even for shared tears of joy.
References to tear bottles actually predate even Roman culture. King David, in his sorrow, cried out to God saying, "Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle:are they not in thy book?" (Psalm 56:8, KJV). The New Living Testament says it this way: "You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book."
What beautiful imagery. God sees each tear we cry and tracks each one. No sorrow goes unnoticed. No pain goes unmourned by our loving and compassionate Father. And one day, just as with the lachrymatories of the Victorian era, all our tears will evaporate, wiped away by the hand of a loving Savior. "He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever" (Revelation 21:4, NLT).
The time of mourning will be over!
Flying the "Death Flag"
Have you ever asked yourself why we fly the flag at half-staff at times of national mourning? It’s one of those things we just take for granted. But it is so much a part of our national culture that Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 7 of the United States Code actually provides rules for regulating how, when, and for how long it is flown that way.
The death of a current or former president lowers the flag for 30 days, while the current vice president, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and Speaker of the House receive 10 days of half-staff flying following their deaths. Flags fly at half-staff from the day of death until the date of interment for cabinet secretaries, Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, former vice presidents, and the governors of states.
The death of a current member of Congress lowers the flag to half-staff on the day of death and following day. And of course, the president can, by executive order, declare the flag to be lowered to mark days of mourning for other special occasions, as well. Following the September 11th attacks, for example, President Bush ordered the flag be flown at half-staff until September 16th.
According to the fact finding gurus at MentalFloss.com, “The oldest commonly accepted reference to a half-staff flag dates back to 1612, when the captain of the British ship Heart’s Ease died on a journey to Canada. When the ship returned to London, it was flying its flag at half-mast to honor the departed captain. According to one line of scholarly thinking, “by lowering the Union Jack, the sailors were making room for the invisible flag of Death. This explanation jibes with the British tradition of flying a ‘half-staff’ flag exactly one flag’s width lower than its normal position to underscore that Death’s flag is flapping above it."
While the Union Jack, the American Flag, and flags of other countries are all flown at half-staff on days of special commemoration and mourning, there is an invisible “death flag” which flies over all humanity. It is the death flag commemorating the heroic sacrifice of the Son of Man. And while we lower our flags in honor of fallen soldiers and war heroes, politicians and patriots who gave their lives in service to our country, Jesus came and gave His life in service to the entire human race,
“Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).
She Took Their Sting
CBS News reports:
Firefighters responded to a call about a bee attack after a mother and her two children were swarmed and attacked by bees while doing a family photo shoot, Arizona Fire & Medical Authority said in a statement on Facebook.
Fire officials said the mother's "quick thinking" saved her kids from being stung when she put them in the car as she took the brunt of the stings.
"She was transported to the hospital with over 75 stings but thankfully has recovered," fire officials said.
A mother's love is fierce, willing to take all the pain, all the trauma, and even the threat of death to protect the children she loves.
How much more fierce is the love of the Savior, taking all the pain, all the trauma, and not just the threat of death, but death itself to protect His children from eternal eternal separation from God?
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55, NIV).
“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24, NIV).