Bottled.

"You have kept count of my tossing; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your record?"

(Psalm 56:8)

Jim Croce sang about putting time in a bottle, in order to "save every 'til eternity passes," then spend it with the one he loves. Folklore tells stories of messages in a bottle and floated out to sea. There are genies in bottles, and bottles of all kinds of beverages ('adult' and otherwise). But today I came across an interesting expression in the psalms about a different kind of bottled item...

The write of Psalm 56 (David?) speaks about being pursued and oppressed by his enemies. They've done all they could to thwart, confound, and injure him. That's when the psalmist appeals to God's intimate knowledge of him. 'You've kept count of my tossings," s/he writes. God knows the struggles, trials, and tribulations the author has experienced... and then adds that God has "put my tears in your bottle."

It's one thing to assert that God hears us when we cry out to him. It's another thing altogether to state that God cares about us so much that God catches ever tear that falls from our eyes, and saves them in a bottle. Wow!

We collect things that are interesting and precious to us. Can you imagine God's 'tear collection'? I wonder if it's one big tear bottle for all humankind, or individual bottles for each one of us?!? No matter what the size of the jar, it's still quite powerful to think about God caring for us that much!

Maybe that should compel us to give more credence to those around us who are suffering?!? If God cares deeply about our pain... and if we are called to be about the things that God is about... then we should therefore also deeply care when others are in pain.

May my bottle expand to hold room for others' tears, too, O Lord! AMEN.