It's Okay to Cry

This week's scripture is from Lamentations 1:1-6. The Book of Lamentations, which comes between Jeremiah and Ezekiel, is a mini book of psalms of lament about the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. It is a community crying out to God in despair over the terrible things that have happened to them.
We also live in a community in which painful things have happened to many of us. In addition to all the "normal" troubles of life, such as illness and family problems, we are in the midst of a serious economic crisis. Many people have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, and new ones are hard, if not impossible, to find. Many people are losing their homes due to unethical mortgage lending practices. Many people are losing their retirement savings, or are already retired and finding it very hard to make ends meet. Yet we live in a culture that tells us it's not okay to cry.
The Bible teaches something very different. The Book of Lamentations and many of the psalms are examples of people pouring their hearts out to God in tears. We live in a culture that is so afraid of any sign of weakness that this kind of lament is foreign to us. Yet it is most necessary. God will strengthen us in our weakness, but first we have to admit to that weakness. We have to admit that we can't do it all by ourselves and that often our attempts to do so only make matters worse. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 God says to the Apostle Paul: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Reflect on this: when was the last time you cried to God? What happened when you did? If it was so long ago that you can't remember, what stops you? What do you think of this statement that's making the rounds on Facebook: "Depression is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign that you have been strong for too long"? Depression is often described as "anger turned inwards." What happens to you when you don't cry: do you get irritable, angry, even rageful? Or do you get depressed?