Equipping the Warrior - Leadership Devotional for MenChikamu

When Warriors Cry 

I remember the day clearly. It was the basement fellowship hall of my church, near the back entry doors. The exact reason for the event is unclear and I don’t remember much about the person. However, the moment and the words stuck with me.

“Big boys don’t cry! Now, dry your face!”

I was upset about something and rather than explode, my boyish emotion turned to tears. A well meaning man from our church saw me in passing and simply uttered those words which I still remember. His statement was casual but it caused a shift which stayed with me for a long time. Men don’t cry. Big boys don’t cry…except for two things. First, I wasn’t a big boy. Second, men do cry.

Warriors DO cry.

Isaiah 33:7 speaks about “warriors crying loudly in the streets and envoys of peace weeping bitterly.” Being a warrior implicitly means being tough. Being a warrior means standing up when others will not or cannot. Being a warrior means pushing through courageously.

And sometimes that courage means being able to show emotion when others have led you to believe it means weakness.

Our manhood isn’t tied up in our ability to stifle tears. In fact, as men, we sometimes reach the point of explosion or anger because of bottled emotions and unresolved issues. So I return to the text where it says that Jesus wept. He wept because a friend died. He wept because his closest friends didn’t believe in him enough to know that he could and would perform a miracle for them. He wept because He knew it was okay to release some of the emotion built-up through constantly pouring out to others but rarely being cared for in return.

This is manhood. This is what it means to be a warrior. But “warrior-hood” also summons the courage to cry.