Beautiful Scars

This has been a hard few weeks. It's been hard for loved ones in the midst of serious struggle, hard for me as a helpless spectator to their pain.

I was washing my hair a few days ago and noticed again the white scars dotting my hands.  I remember the origin of most. On my right ring finger is a faint scar below the nail from the time my dog shot passed me in yellow-labrador-torpedo fashion, pulling me through some icy gravel.  I have a small triangle gouge on my arm from a friend's protective cockatiel. It is an unfriendly bird.  There's a line on my right hand from when I was a new Young Life leader trying to make friends with kids, and fell prey to an alphabet scratching "mercy game". Chicken-pock scars, cuts from chopping vegetables, burn marks from an oven door... my scars are fairly insignificant.

Yet it occurred to me that scars are a special gift. They mean we've survived something (like a cockatiel attack).  Even acne scars are a reminder that we survived adolescence.  They are reminders of surgery healed, of sickness overcome, of a wounding survived. I see the scar on a chest and know that a heart attack did not win. I remember the emergency C-section scar and rejoice in the baby's life saved.

The skin has recovered. It is no longer flawless, but in healing has become stronger, more resilient and unyielding.  Perhaps this makes us more stiff and sore. Perhaps it changes our appearance in a way we think is ugly. But the scar means we have survived.

This week, my awareness of hardship and uncertainty is more acute than usual. No amount of planning and insulation, cleanliness and good living will prevent struggle from intersecting our lives. I know this world is an uncertain place, and this week it's hit a little closer to my heart.

Ours is a painful world, a wounded and fallen place.  But I am reminded of another set of scars, set deep in the wrists of One who took all this world's pain on His own shoulders... and survived. "In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world!"

By His wounds, we are healed. Beautiful Scars.