On the girl's brown legs there were many small white scars. I was thinking, Do those scars cover the whole of you, like the stars and the moons on your dress? I thought that would be pretty too, and I ask you right here please to agree with me that a scar is never ugly. That is what the scar makers want us to think. But you and I, we must make an agreement to defy them. We must see all scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, I survived.
- Chris Cleave, Little Bee
I love this quote, and I do think that scars are beautiful. I also think that they represent so much more than mere survival. We, as humans, have a tendency to hide our scars, as though they are ugly or shameful. Scars mean something went wrong. My fault, somebody else's fault or nobody's fault, something has to go wrong for a scar to form. Something has to break, to cut, to wound, and the worse the wound the longer lasting and more visible the scar.
I have a scar on my face, a couple of them actually, barely visible at this point, but I know where they are and what they are and can point them out if need be. I have some 30+ year old scars on my wrists that aren't visible anymore because I didn't do a very good job making them. One of the few times it really was more about crying out for help than going home. But they were there for years. I have a scar on my chest that happens to be set in bold ink, yes, we call those scars tattoos. I actually have five of them, but one is a scar, the evidence of a wounding that occurred during my incarceration. I have little scars from childhood, some of them are tied to memories, some I can't remember how I got them for anything.
I remember trying to cut the head off a doll as a boy and the knife folding closed on my finger, nearly cutting it off. I remember the blood dripping all over the floor and in the sink and my mother's concern and near panic (within a few more years the result of raising three Woodard boys would kill that panic and make her an expert at quick triage. God bless my poor mother and every gray hair my brothers and I have given her.). That one is there. Some of these scars actually have fond memories associated with them, some have no memory associations, and some I would just as soon forget, or at least not have a constant reminder.
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But scars are as important as they are beautiful As Papa Roach says, the scars remind us that the past is real. We are far more than our skin, and we are more than the scars in our skin as well, but our scars identify us, they become a part of who we are. When Jesus appeared in the room with the disciples after His resurrection, His first words were to bring peace. His first action was to show them His scars to prove His identity and credentials and something else as well.
The scars Jesus showed proved who He was, proved that He had the right to tell them, "Peace be unto you," since He was the One who spoke peace to the stormy sea in their presence. Yes, identity and credentials were in that gesture of showing His scars, but so was proof of restoration, evidence of healing power. Scars are not wounds. We sometimes act like they are infected, oozing wounds, but they aren't. They are what is left when healing occurs. Sometimes there is some overlap. I have a friend who had a car wreck when younger and went through the windshield face first. The wounds seemed to heal and scars formed, but for several years afterward her body would slowly heal more and push pieces of broken glass to the surface from deep inside and out. But she wasn't a bleeding, infected mess waiting on the deep healing to finish, and the scars were evidence of that.
And, as I am sure you know, not all scars are in our skin. Mental and emotional scars are as real as physical ones, even if they are not always easy for others to see. And these scars can also be beautiful. That beauty is similar to the beauty of the feet of those who bring good news. You see my wrist, I know your pain. - Creed. When I try to help drug addicts and alcoholics there are things I can say, scars I can show, that let them know that I too have been there, I know that particular wound from experience. I can do the same with sexual scars, rejection, self-hatred, suicidal tendencies, mental health issues, and more. Burn scars are different than road rash, and both are different from a blade's remnant. We all have scars of different sizes and kinds. A road rash scar can still be a beautiful sign of hope to a burn victim, because similarities matter. Because no matter how it came, all scars are evidence of wounds.
We, like Jesus, can come to the frightened and broken and speak peace, but we have to show our scars. Our scars prove our identity as human and broken too. They prove our credentials when we say that there can be peace during and after wounding, when we have peace and proof we have been wounded. Most importantly we show our scars to show the power and glory of a God who doesn't leave us bleeding, infected and dying of gangrene. There is healing available. Restoration is part of it. The scar shows others that we've been bloodied too, that they can indeed survive it, and even better, that they can recover.
Take your wounds to the Great Physician. And don't hide your scars. They are not ugly. They are not shameful, like the scar makers want us to feel and believe (even when the scar maker is us). They are beautiful examples of God's design and power to bring us through the trauma. Scars are the marks of hope on the art of our lives.
Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on
April 27, 2016.
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