Today as we were almost done picking apples, Danny got something in his eye. He became frantic at once, and I urged him to stay calm and not rub his eye while I rushed to find a tissue that I could wet to try to get the thing out.
Danny was unable to get it out, and I was unable to find it, but his eye was full of tears, so I told him to sit in the van and close his eyes without rubbing them, and see if the eye would wash itself out
with tears.
It worked.
I told him that yesterday after working for hours removing insulation from ceilings at a house Jonathan is getting ready to remodel, I had something in my eye, but after closing my eye for 10 or 15 minutes on the way home, the thing was gone.
Jonathan has been getting different jobs in the upscale section of town called the Broadmoor. In the above picture, he was going into another home with the owner and realtor to talk about details while I waited in the truck the other day. Yesterday since Crystal had a day free from work at the restaurant, (where there is now this darling little baby daughter of her employer)
she and I worked at a remodel job doing the really nasty job of removing insulation from the ceilings and attic. We dressed up in fat white coveralls complete with hood and footies that covered us from head to toe. I could climb on top of the ever-growing stack of old insulation in the huge dumpster and not be bothered much with itches. After that kind of job, babysitting or housecleaning or laundry or gardening seems like a piece of cake.
My camera had run out of battery or I'd have pictures of us in our coveralls and respirators pulling Rock Wool insulation out of attic spaces, crawling up and down ladders, and hauling tarps full of it to the dumpster. Crystal is trying to earn money for college, and I went, too. At the end of the day that huge dumpster was one-third or one-half full of insulation, and Crystal and I were soaking wet with sweat under our airless coveralls. My blouse was wetter than it is coming out of the laundry. I hoped I would not have a heat stroke. Thankfully we had taken fresh clothes and towels so we could shower and change before coming home.
From there, we went different directions--Crystal took the four younger children to the nearby national forest to fish, and I met up with Jonathan to leave one truck at the mechanic, and drive the other home. Although I had thought to take respirators, I hadn't taken goggles,and I was fighting with itching eyes and something in one of them on the way home.
Closing them for a while helped, and I was thankful Jonathan could do the driving.
The tears washed the irritant away.
In recent months, I have been so thankful that my emotions are back to where I can cry again. For a long time, I was so traumatized by events and situations that I could not even find release in tears. So now when something new hurts me afresh and I find myself in tears, I remember to be thankful.
I am thankful that I can cry again--that the hurt isn't so deep that I can't even cry.
To be able to cry--albeit buckets of tears--is a great gift, because tears are a beautiful way to release one's pent-up emotions.
"He Washed My Eyes With Tears" is a song my sister Dorcas used to sing.
And still God washes our eyes with tears.
There will always be irritants--especially if we purposely place ourselves in situations that need insulation removal, apples picked, sin removed and burdens lifted,
but may we be granted tears to wash the irritants of both eyes and heart clean.
In the place of all the irritants of life, may we be given
contrite spirits,
clear consciences,
and compassionate hearts.
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