How, Why, and When to Make Tear Soup

Over the last couple of days I've been making Tear Soup.
(if you haven't read this delightful, intuitive children's book, you should...you may want to make Tear Soup yourself one day...)

It takes all measures of pots for Tear Soup...the type of pot one needs depends on the heart-ache.
Tear Soup is perfect for all kinds of losses.

Grief comes in many sizes.
Mine is just a small pot.
It's not a more-than-I-think-I-can-bear pot.
It's just a small little hurting-heart pot.

I think I've figured out the why behind the need to pull out my Tear Soup recipe.
It springs back to missionary days.
There are just simply too many good-byes in a missionary's life.
Too many losses to count - relationally and otherwise.
So, when little losses spring up now, they trigger a very real, quick, and hard soul-pain.

We just ended some chaotic, fun-filled, wonderful and yes, sometimes frustrating moments (we are a normal family, after all), with most of our favorite people here at Camp Papa and Nana.
At our house, it's either feast or famine, since the majority of the family lives so far away.
Now, as with most things in life, the dynamics are changing in a big way.
New jobs.
New locations.
New life-situations.
Grand-treasures are growing up, getting involved in sports and other activities, doing life.
The reality of less and less together-time is becoming more and more evident.
We often heard ourselves thinking, and sometimes voicing aloud, that this precious time could be: "our last big hurrah for many years..."

So, the loss of together-times has lodged right here:
💔

Many things go in my Tear Soup.
Several cups of salty, leaky liquid (this perfect blend is found only springing up from one's heart through one's eyes).
A huge handful of patience.
A pinch of self-care.
Plenty of long walks.
Stir in heaping tablespoons of brisk house-cleaning.
A number of teaspoons of Jesus-music from Pandora.
Occasional snack-size bites of comfort food (yes, I indulge for a few days with an occasional "anti-depressant in a chocolate bar").

Palm-sized portions of journaling...and...
Add, great BIG, CHUNKY pieces of memories, especially photos.

But, the one ingredient I cannot do without, and it is a must for us all, is to toss in tasty morsels of the Bread of Life which form the chewy goodness of dumplings on top:

Jesus-Words.

Here are a few of the dumplings that fill and satisfy my achy soul:

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up (Ps 68:19)!

Awesome is God from His sanctuary; the God of Israel - He is the one who gives power and strength to His people (Ps 68:35)!

Weeping tarries for a night, but joy comes in the morning (Ps 30:5b)!

The Lord Himself will hide me in the shelter of His wings in the day of my troubles; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent; He will lift me high upon a rock (Ps 27:5)!

Your steadfast love is before my eyes; and I walk in Your faithfulness (Ps 26:3)!

Those who look to the Lord God will be cheerful (their faces radiant)...(Ps 34:5)!

The Lord is especially near to the broken-hearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit (Ps 34:18).

A bruised reed He will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench... (Is 42:3).

XXXX

So, why do I tell you this? Because making Tear Soup is a good thing; it's a healthy activity. On the heels of last week's blog, David the King showed us that sometimes doing HARD is done in community. Sharing a bowl of Tear Soup with the right people is a heart-healing balm to the soul. Adding the right ingredients is essential. Sometimes it takes a long time to simmer before it's ready. The one thing I do know, a canned product will NEVER suffice. Another thing I know is that everyone's ingredients will look a little different: that's what makes Tear Soup unique to each of us. But, at some time in our life, EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. OF. US. needs to make a pot. This is just to encourage you to do so.

O my soul, why be so gloomy and discouraged? Trust in God! I shall again praise him for his wondrous help; he will make me smile again, for he is my God (Ps 43:5, TLB)!

AMEN!