Monday, April 23, 2018

The Beauty of Our Scars




So often we try to hide them. Scars... They are not attractive.
I had one lobe of my thyroid removed when I was 22 and married barely a year.

I have had a melanoma on my thigh removed and they did and nice job and the scarring was minimal, but the surgery saved my life.

I have a scar on my left arm from a nasty tear in the flesh when I was 18 years old and climbing over an 8 ft cyclone fence...LEAVING...a concert.

At times my scars have throbbed, at times I forget about them. Sometimes I notice them and they remind me:
That was NOT cancer; That WAS cancer, but they got it all! That was a bad choice, but you just missed severing a vein in your arm and it could have been worse.
Just like these physical scars, I carry emotional scars, as so many do. However, they too remind me of God's grace, the gift of good counselors and recovery programs, and the love and support of many over time.
Sometimes the pain resurfaces. I have done the work of forgiving those that inflicted the wounds, but the pain still throbs at times. The scars are a beautiful reminder that there is joy to be found through suffering, not because of it, but joy can be found within the layers and folds of the suffering.
I am understanding more and more that is because I have never suffered alone. One has always been with me, and because of that I can find peace and joy even when I am hurt. Even when the scars remain. His eyes are upon me. His hand reaches out and takes mine. His love soothes me.
Those scars? They are beautiful to God and precious in his sight, so they have become beautiful to me the more I see things through his eyes.
After all, he still carries the scars of his crucifixion, and they are powerful reminders that in the midst of such hatred and jealousy and evil, love won...it always does.