What Makes You Cry?

OK, it’s not a manly kind of question. But one of the most manly teachers I ever knew said that if he didn’t cry at least once a week, he felt his heart was getting hard. “What makes you cry?” is one of the deepest questions you can ask a person because it goes beyond surface questions to one’s core passions and emotional responses.

So, I’ll answer it while you ponder it. Four things make me tear up:

1. When I feel broken (failed in a sincere attempt) or convicted (that I’ve hurt someone’s feelings or caused a mess unintentionally). It’s like a trigger that I need to apologize or re-double my efforts to make something right that was wronged.

2. When I’m really connecting to someone in a conversation. I know it’s weird, but when I’m fully present, and we are connecting at an emotional level, a little tear forms in my eye.

3. When I’m in the zone. I feel that God put me on this planet to equip and coach, and when I’m preparing for one of those 2 things, I often catch myself brushing a tear away out of excitement for what I enjoy doing most.

4. When I feel compassion on someone who is hurting. When I can truly empathize with someone in their struggles and feel their pain at some level, a good cry often accompanies this “weep when a friend weeps” feeling.

OK, and sometimes I cry at happy points in movies, like when the villain’s heart goes out to the little orphan girls in Despicable Me–but I play that off as something in my eye.

Got the courage to share yours with those you love?