Jim Croce sang, “If I could save time in a bottle, the first thing that I’d like to do… is to save every day til eternity passes away just to spend them with you.”

PSALM 56:8 tells us God “collects all of our tears in a bottle and recorded each one in your book.”

Both of these bottles have something very intense in common… love … and sorrow.

When someone you love has been torn from your life, whether or not age has anything to do with it, our broken hearts long to go back and collect every moment we have ever spent with that precious person and relive it.   Bottle it.  Relive it.  Bottle it.  Never have to lose it again.  With today’s technology we are able to relive many of our happiest memories on DVD’s and in Scrapbooks.  What a precious gift this is, especially to our children who so easily forget the nuances of our loved ones who have passed on while they are so young.  The danger of this technology lies in never wanting to move beyond reliving the memories.   Bottled memories are wonderful, but we must not pour ourselves into the bottle with them.

The Comforter reminds us in Psalms that He loves us so much, He collects each and every tear we cry and puts them in a bottle, our bottle.  Some day, when it is our turn to be called home, we will see our bottle.  Not all of our tears will be sad, there will also be sparkling tears of joy and laughter in our bottle, causing it to glow with the full light of Christ’s love.

God is our source of comfort and joy.  We can find joy again when we lean wholly on Him, and allow our tears and the memories of time to be kept in a heavenly bottles.