Tears Taste Salty.

“I am weary with my sighing; every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears.” (Ps. 6:6)

The other day I was crying (it’s a long story) and I was reminded how salty tears can taste. You’ve got to do some serious crying for tears to roll down your cheek without being wiped away and make it into your mouth so that you can taste them. It was a hard day. To distract myself I decided to do a little research into why tears taste salty. Here’s what I found:

Tears taste salty because they contain electrolytes. The primary electrolyte responsible for the salty taste in tears is sodium chloride, common table salt.

Interestingly, not all tears have the same level of saltiness. There are three main types of tears:

1. Basal tears: These are produced continuously to lubricate and protect the eyes. They tend to be quite salty.

2. Reflex tears: These are produced in response to irritants like dust, smoke, or onion fumes to flush them out. They are also relatively salty.

3. Emotional tears: These are produced in response to strong emotions like sadness, joy, or anger. They generally have a lower salt concentration than basal and reflex tears but do contain more proteins.

Proteins are essential for life and perform a vast array of functions in humans.

I bet you weren’t expecting a biology lesson. Stay with me. I’m about to turn this into something spiritual. ;-)

Salt is a spice and we buy spices to enhance the flavor of food. I’m wondering if my tears, and the sorrow from which they spring, could have some redeemable value, some protein, something that could enhance my life and the lives of those I am in contact with? Discovering this will not necessarily take away my sorrow and tears but if I don’t learn anything from my hurt then all I did was hurt.

“You have taken account of my wanderings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?” (Ps. 56:8)

Questions for reflection:

1. When was the last time you cried?

2. If there is anything redeemable from sorrow what could that be?

3. Do you know anyone experiencing deep sorrow?

4. How might you best comfort them?