ANOTHER WHAT IF!

 My external body is a road map of scars.  Scars from accidents while having a great time--a rock in my knee from a bicycle wreck after a dare, a knife slipped while whittling at Girl Scout camp,  the shovel missed the dirt and hit my foot while in a huge pile of dirt, and a gaping wound down in the Grand Canyon after a fall---a LONG way from the doctor.  Then there are the surgery scars--some tiny--others not so tiny. I have had all the things I can live without removed and now am left with only the necessities .  A scar from skin cancer surgery--the consequence of too much sun.  Then there are the scars from bearing children---having inherited the propensity to birth big babies with big heads--well I will stop there.    Each scar has a story behind it and most are very visible.  It is a visible part of my life line.

WHAT IF, our emotional scars also were visible?  Most of us have lost a loved one which left a big hole in our lives and invisible scar.  Most of us have experienced emotional trauma--some big trauma and some small trauma.  The big trauma would produce a big scar--the small trauma a tiny almost invisible scar (like the scar above my lip and eye from my very early years).  BUT when you start adding scar after scar--some big and some tiny- we begin to have a road map of our emotional lives.  "Emotional scars are long lasting psychological impacts that stem from traumatic experiences, disappointments, or profound life changes. "  

NOW here is the thing about all those emotional scars---they come with living life.  When we suffer trauma, the body's natural way of healing is to form scar tissue.  The amazing thing about scar tissue is it usually stronger than the original skin.  When you are a Believer, you are promised that God will bring healing to our scars.

"He heals the brokenhearted

and binds up their wounds."

Psalm 147:3

Yes, our physical scars are a type of road map of our physical lives.  Emotional scars though not visible are also a road map of our emotional lives.  Though not visible--they manifest themselves in our behavior.  The question becomes are we willing to leave the trauma behind and be healed or are we holding on to our hate, disappointment, rage and other negative emotions?   AND what about all those emotional highs---do we allow them to be front and center as we position ourselves in attitudes of gratitude or do we allow the negative to be front and center?   Things to ponder in our moments of contemplation today. 

WOUNDS AND SCARS

 I was recently looking at some photos with my son and came across this photo of the wound I suffered while hiking in the Grand Canyon.  (The beginning of the end of my hiking)  I probably needed a few stitches, but we pressed the skin flap back down and tightly bandaged it.  Eventually I lost that skin, but the wound healed and left a nice scar.  NOT the only scar I have by any means, but each one has a story.  

How many times have I looked at someone's wound and said, "That's going to leave a scar."  I call those scars war wounds (not to disparage ANYONE who has suffered real war wounds).  Scars from injuries and wounds we suffer as we trek through this life.  Not all wounds are physical--there are also wounds of the heart which leave scars.  Those wounds contribute to who we are and are the reminders of what we have suffered along the way.  I do not have one scar that did not cause pain. 

 I also have some good memories associated with some scars such as seeing the Grand Canyon with this one.  The scar is a reminder of one misstep and a fall, but it also is a reminder of the wonder of God's creation which I was blessed to experience.  I have a scar from stitches from my Girl Scout days, a scar from building our swimming pool when I was 5, (do not plunge a shovel in the dirt when your foot is in the same dirt pile), scars from multiple bike wrecks and lots of skinned knees, among others from my childhood.  I was a tomboy with two brothers and have the scars to prove it.  The reminder of any surgery you have endured is always a scar and I have plenty of those scars to add to my collection.

Our scars are visible evidence of wounds which have healed.  My body has become a map of scars from years of living.  There is a story to tell and sometimes a lesson learned from all those scars.  If you have ever had surgery you know, scar tissue forms at the site of the incision and inside our body where the surgeon cut.  If you have ever had a broken heart, you understand your heart can also bear those internal scars.  The scars which come from daring to love.  

Each and every scar is a reflection of who I am, where I have been, and hopefully what I have learned along the path.  Scars come from living life--they are the roadmap of where we have been.

As I read today's daily Bible reading, it suddenly hit me when Jesus resurrected, He bore the scars of what He did for us.  He did not come back unblemished and without the scars from the life He lived.  He showed Thomas those very scars--offered to let him feel the scars from His wounds.  He bore the scars of the wounds He bore that we might have life.  Think on that, Friends.  I have spent an entire day thinking about His scars.  Visible evidence of what He suffered for me.

" Then He said to Thomas,

 'Put your finger here, see my hands.

Reach out your hand and put it into my side,

Stop doubting and believe ' "

John 20:27