He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; the rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; for the LORD has spoken.
Isaiah 25:8, NKJV
I sat shivering with Susan on her lawn as our husbands talked to the firemen preparing to leave. The water and smoke damage from the early morning chimney fire would take weeks to clean up. Tears had washed a clear path down Susan’s smudged face.
As I answered the phone, I heard a sob. I had heard it enough to know to whom it belonged. Joan was having marital problems again. I listened and realized that this world has an ever-flowing river of tears.
On my bookcase sat a flowered box of tissues. Tissues. I had given so many away lately because of tears—tears of joy, tears of sorrow, tears of frustration, and tears from devastation.
People have all kinds of ministries: singing, TV, radio, etc. Could mine actually be a “tissue ministry?” I wondered. The more I reflected on it, the more it fit.
Tears punctuate the Bible from cover to cover. Eve shed tears at the death of Abel. David wept over Absalom. Jesus wept over Jerusalem, and on and on. Every tribe, every culture, has tears. Obviously, our Creator designed us with the ability to cry. The emotional traumas of life would need a natural safety valve: tears.
A tissue ministry requires caring enough to listen, not only with the ears but with the heart. You need to be sensitive. Someone people can trust to keep confidences. It requires a willingness to be inconvenienced and to have some of your plans interrupted. The bottom line is that Jesus did not tell us to change people but to love them by listening and caring. The sharing of a tissue can be in person or virtually with a hug or phone call.
God will someday wipe away all sad tears forever. In the meantime, we can all consider being tissue ministers by lovingly listening to those in need of having their tears wiped this side of heaven.
Marybeth Gessele
Marybeth Gessele lives in Gaston, Oregon, USA
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