Thank you for joining me on our first "Writing Prompt Wednesday." I am so excited to see what words come out with this prompt. If you come across a prompt or have something you would like me to write about on a future Writing Prompt Wednesday, leave it in the comments or send it to me privately through the contact form. I would love to read your ideas. Thanks!
Prompt: Paulo Coelho has said, "Tears are words that need to be written." What always brings tears to your eyes?
I am a teacher and now an aunt-mom to three beautiful kids. Most recently, I have been guilty of shedding buckets of happy tears. When I first read the quote above by Paulo Coelho, it was like a light bulb went off. This quote rings so true for me. The moments that I am experiencing extreme pain or happiness, the moments that draw tears to my eyes, are the moments that I tend to write about. These are the moments that I need to write in order to work out my feelings and process what is happening in my life.
In my role as a teacher, this is the time of year that I tend to shed the most happy tears. Tomorrow is the last day of school. My class and I have now been together for the last 36 weeks. We have shared laughter, love, frustration, and yes...tears. Each year is like a new adventure. We begin the year as strangers and end the year as a piece of each other's hearts. When I look back on the year and I see how far my students have come and how much they have grown, tears are always brought to my eyes. Happy tears. Proud tears. Bittersweet tears.
I am blessed to teach where I do. I not only get to witness my students grow physically and academically, but I get to guide them in growing spiritually as well. This is by far the most rewarding part of my job. When a student tells me at the end of the year that I helped them grow closer to Jesus, I know that I did my job exactly the way I was supposed to in spite of the long nights, parent meetings, and frustrations throughout the year. Pretty much every time a student says something along those lines, the tears start flowing. It is like each tear represents a happy memory and when I look at it like that, my tears are really gifts. In happy or sad times, when we cry, each tear is a gift from God. Our tears mean that we have experienced love. When I cry happy tears for my students it is because God has given me the chance to love and be loved by them in a way that fosters physical, academic and spiritual growth within them. When I cry sad tears, it is usually because a loved one has passed or that I am in the midst of a disagreement with someone. Those tears also mean that I have loved and have been loved. It means I care enough to be sad about that situation.
Many times tears are seen as bad, but I think that God has beautifully designed us in a way that our tears heal our hearts. I guess to give a straightforward answer to the prompt above, I would have to say... having experienced an overwhelming sense of love. This is what always brings tears to my eyes.
