Sow your tears.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. (Psalm 126:5)

I know that the title of this post is a little depressing. However, I do want to discuss sowing our tears. This past Sunday this scripture just began to run through my mind. Sowing my tears and reaping in joy. I just had to meditate on that. How do we sow in tears? Is it just crying over our misfortunes? Is it mourning and being in grief? First of all what does sowing mean?

Sowing is when we take something that has potential to grow and put it into an environment where it first dies and then multiplies itself. A farmer takes a seed, goes out to his field, puts the seed into the ground and in the coming months, the farmer reaps a bountiful harvest. Just like the farmer, we also have to sow. We have heard of the law of sowing and reaping as it partains to finances. But what about this verse? It's not just talking about sowing seed (money or acts of kindness) but it is talking about sowing tears. How then do we sow in tears?

Sowing in tears means to sacrifice and in my time of meditation I have realized it can be done in these two ways:

-Prayer

-Dying to my flesh.

Sowing in tears through prayers means fervent and passionate prayer. You know the kind of prayer that involves your heart. The kind of prayer that moves you beyond your self. The kind of prayer that keeps you up at night, the one that keeps you at the altar after the pastor has said the benediction. It is the kind of prayer that as you're praying streams of water are flowing from your eyes. Those tears reflect the passion in your prayer.

I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds (John 12:24)

Here Jesus was telling his disciples a principle of the Kingdom. The principle of how to reap a good harvest in our spiritual life. Dying to ourselves is sowing in tears. The reason why it can be considered sowing in tears is because it will be very difficult. Your flesh will war against you and protest such denial and betrayal. But like a good farmer, you have to look into the future and make preparations for your future. A good farmer doesn't eat all his seeds. Neither should you spend all your life satisfying your flesh because the end of it is destruction. If you are courting someone this is the season to sow purity into your relationship so that you can reap God's blessings in your marriage. If you've been put in a place of leadership this is the time to sow integrity because he is faithful over little shall be put over much. And above all, die to yourself because this is the highest sacrifice you can make to God. After all it will require your tears.