When wounds are healed by love,
the scars are beautiful.
- David Bowles
I heard this quote on a television show last week. It's true. Scars can be beautiful. My two favorite scars, and the ones I find the most beautiful, are on Leah. The first is almost three decades old and is a C-section scar. I can't see it without seeing her motherhood. She is an amazing and wonderful mom who gave herself for her children and her love for them is beautiful. Part of why I love her so much is because of how she loves as a mother. It's special to me, and I am grateful that she has been blessed to have and raise two wonderful children who are now amazing adults.
The second scar is less than six months old and is from her open-heart surgery. I hate that she needed it. I wish she hadn't had to go through the fear and pain of it all. But this scar represents something horribly wrong being made right that will keep her heart working. I could have lost her unexpectedly with the problems she had, but they have been fixed. This scar is hope for decades more time with the love of my life. Oh yes, Dear Reader, it is beautiful to me.
But while I could be wrong, I believe the above quote is more metaphoric. The scars it refers to are more the emotional and mental scars of life. And when those life wounds are healed by love they truly produce something beautiful. It is true that "our scars remind us that the past is real" (Papa Roach), but they do more than that. They show where we've been. I have scars, many self-inflicted, because of my past. But they help me now. I can use them to show that I have been wounded. The Creed song "What's This Life For" shows an example of this with the lines:
I see your soul, it's kind of gray
You see my heart, you look away
You see my wrist, I know your pain
Not all of these painful scars can be seen on wrists, but they can be seen if we don't hide them. Many of us, too many in this broken and fallen world, have been wounded terribly. But regardless of how the wound manifested, it can be healed by love. Daddy loves you as you are, not as you should be, but He loves you enough not to leave you as you are. He longs to heal us. And when we are healed by Love, the scars are beautiful. We become the bearers of good news, that there is hope. There is a solution. There is healing to be had. That is good news. The best news.
It is easy to see our wounds as proof that life is pointless and cruel and that God doesn't care. But a wound only scars when it heals. And wounds healing is a demonstration that Daddy loves us and doesn't want us to remain wounded. He doesn't want a cut to always cause death, so He designed our body to recover. And He designed our minds, hearts and souls to recover from their wounds too. The answer is not time. Time does not heal all wounds. Time can make a wound much worse, and the poison of infection from bitterness and resentment can kill. Love can heal those wounds and victory over the wounds and difficulties of life can make us shining examples of God's love, power and way of life to those who are still among the walking wounded.
If you are wounded, I urge you to turn to the Great Physician. The love of God can heal you and give you freedom and wholeness. And if you have discovered the truth of Daddy's love and have begun to heal, yet still feel tormented by the past because of your scars, remember this. It doesn't matter if you see them as ugly blights. God loves you. To Him they are signs of life and healing and the chance to have continued relationship, and that makes them beautiful to Him. And to those we can help because our scars show that we too have been wounded and there is hope, how beautiful are the feet of them who bring good news (Romans 10:15) to those who are wounded and dying.
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