No Tears in Heaven -- Robert Sterling Arnold

Take a look at this picture. Looks rather ordinary, right? Small-town, anywhere, America, though this one happens to be Coleman, Texas in 2009. It’s just about right in the center of that great state, and home of one Robert Sterling Arnold, the writer of “No Tears in Heaven” in the year 1935. Like the geographic position of his hometown, Robert’s words in ‘No Tears…’ are central to the faith that he must have adopted pretty early in his life from a family of like believers deep in the heart of what’s known as ‘the bible-belt’. His sentiments in the song have an upbeat quality, though one might be surprised to discover that this buoyant message is peppered with the word ‘no’. In this case, negativity is stood on its head. Isn’t that kind of how we feel our Creator behaves when mortal life is done – He outwits death for us!

Robert Arnold’s upbringing may have been small-town style, but what he would ultimately do with the music to which he attached himself would broaden his horizons, while coaxing others who’d sing his music to think even bigger. Robert was singing by the time he was a teenager, following lots of education at singing schools at the hands of multiple teachers. Part of his musical ability may also have been more or less familial, including via one cousin (Eddie Arnold, a well-known country-western music artist) with whom he shared the same last name. Robert was soon doing radio shows and involving himself in the publishing business, too. Writing at least a handful of hymns was just part of the terrain that Robert’s vocation and his faith directed him to walk. By the time he was 30 years old, Robert had married (Cora) someone who also loved music, and so she may have played a role in what he wrote just a few years after their union. The Arnolds were indeed a twosome that owned and operated the National Music Company and published various musical products throughout several decades of the 20^th Century. Robert would eventually be inducted into the Texas and Southern Gospel Music Halls of Fame in 1985 and 2005, respectively. Quite an honor for a kid from Coleman, huh? Perhaps Robert would have just thought that was icing, compared to the life he lived, doing what he obviously loved and pointing others upward. No tears, no sorrow, no sadness, (no) pain, and no pondering (or even brooding over) one’s life…that’s what gave Robert reason to write and celebrate about what lay ahead.   

Robert’s life sounds like a full one, even if he thought an eternity without some things was something to celebrate. Perhaps he’d had his share of some unhappy moments, pain (either physical or emotional), or some regrets. It’s not unusual for anyone to wish for those facets of mortal life to vanish for good in the afterlife. Even God Himself experienced them while here, and tells us his abode up there will be different (Revelation 21:4), as He concludes his written, revelatory letter to us. Robert Arnold is just reminding us that that guarantee still holds.  

A brief biography of the composer is here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/a/r/n/arnold_rs.htm

See here also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sterling_Arnold

Biographical information on the composer also obtained from the book “Our Garden of Song”, edited by Gene C. Finley, Howard Publishing Company, 1980.