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).
If only I knew
Imagine yourself as a successful worker thriving in a large accounting firm. You are only fifty years old and still have many things you want to achieve and experience for the rest of your life, including an exciting retirement plan.
But one day, the doctor tells you that you have an inoperable brain cancer and are given only 100 days to live.
For a man named Eugene O’Kelly,* what you just imagined was a reality in his life.
His life story is told in his book titled Chasing Daylight.
On May 24, 2005, Eugene received the devastating news that shattered his life plans.
Upon learning the seriousness of his illness, he did what he was trained to do as an accountant – he made a list:
- Resign from my job.
- Choose medical treatments that allow me to...
- Make the most of the remaining time for those most affected by my condition.
Eugene even made a to-do list for his final days:
- Settle legal and financial matters
- Open up relationships,
- Simplify
- Live for today
- Create joyful moments
- Begin transitioning to the next phase
- Plan the funeral
- Stay positive until the end.
In Scripture, there was a King of Israel who also experienced a similar situation. He knew exactly how long he had left to live in this world. In 2 Kings 20:1-11 we read that King Hezekiah became gravely ill (verse 1), but when he prayed to God, asking for His mercy, God extended hiss life by 15 years (verse 6).
But King Hezekiah didn't initially take full advantage of the remaining time granted to him. In 2 Chronicles 32:24-33 we read that He was first overtaken by pride (verse 25), derailing him from productive and positive use of his remaining time.
*Eugene O'Kelly was a former Chairman and CEO of KPMG, one of the largest U. S. accounting and consulting firms and one of the Big Four auditors. Eugene was elected chairman and CEO of KPMG in 2002 for a term of six years. In May 2005, at age 53, Eugene was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor.
Fortunately, Hezekiah soon turned away from his pride and began doing good for Israel, making good use of the remaining years of his life. He started by building storehouses (verses 27-28), establishing new cities (verse 29), and constructing water reservoirs for the land of Israel (verse 30).
For most of us, it's is true that we will never know when our end will come. But one thing we can definitively know ... One thing we should know is that we will not be here in this world forever.
Our lives are finite.
May I invite all of us today to imagine the experience of Eugene, who had only 100 days left to live, Just imagine, what you do with those remaining 100 days in your daily life.
Make a list, set priorities. Then live that list out, over and over again, until you actually come to the end of your days. Don't be a Hezekiah, wasting even a single moment of your time. Be a Eugene! And like Eugene, remember to "Stay positive until the end!"
And may we pray with Moses, Psalm 90:12, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”