Scars

I have many scars. There is one from my childhood that remains on my forehead today. My younger brother was angry with me and hit me over the head with his toy machine gun. It was one of those plastic ones that makes a shooting sound when you hold the trigger. Unfortunately, the gun broke in half when it made contact with my hard head. I will never forget it.

That is how it is when we get angry and try to hurt others. In our anger, we lash out at the person who hurt us, but often times something precious to us gets broken in the process. And we don't apologize to the person we hurt, but focus on our own injury or loss.

And the one who gets hit...well, they focus on the scar. I know I did. I was quick to show my injury to my mom and even as the skin healed, I focused on the scar it was leaving. I worried because it was on my forehead, for all the world to see. As I grew older, I spent time being concerned about whether my make-up would cover it accurately and whether others were as aware of it as I was.

Physical scars aren't the only ones that affect us this way. The scars that we bear from emotional hurt can really distract us. We waste time looking at them, licking them, showing them to others and being angry with the ones who gave them to us.

We forget that we have a God who can heal them. We let them fester and grow. Sometimes the outer surface will appear healed or we will bandage them for a while.

But the REAL scars that we should be proud of, the ones that we should be focused on are the scars of Jesus Christ. His scars from the cross are healing. The are the ones we should boast about and tell others about. I am the most proud of His scars and they are the ones that I will focus on. Thank you, Jesus. You paid it all.