I recently read a blog that touched my heart and really made me start thinking about life. Not just my life, but life in general. The post was called Glorious Ruins and in that post, the writer Jonathan talks about how in a Sunday School class he attended they used to tell their scar stories. AND THEN….. I started thinking!!!

Scars.

We all have them and each one tells a part of our story. Each one holds a memory of something we learned along our path of life.

Listen, I’ve been thinking. Each of has a story to tell. As we go through life, things happen, both good and bad, and these are the things we learn from, grow from, and can share. Some All of those things we go through leave scars of one sort or another.

Some of our scars are physical scars. 

When I was 15 I was rushing into the house after school because I wanted to go to a friends house and I knew I couldn’t go until all of my homework was finished. In my rush, I missed the step up onto the patio and as my foot came back down to the ground, the shin of my right leg scraped along the edge of the porch step. It bled for a long time, scabbed over and eventually became a lined scar going down the length of my shin.

We all have scars from stories like that. Maybe it was a surgery that left a scar or perhaps we’ve fallen, as I did, and our injury left a scar. Our physical scars have a story.

Some of our scars are emotional scars.

Do you remember your first love and the heartbreak when it ended? Oh, I do. I was sure I would never survive it. My life was over and it was one of the most horrific times in my life. That heartbreak became a story I could tell. It became something I could share with others. I learned a lot about myself and about others during that time.

Emotional scars run deep. They are those things in our lives that have left us hurting and in despair. They can leave us feeling empty and unsure, but emotional scars have a story.

Some scars are natural scars.

I’m getting older and as I age certain parts of my body look different and act differently. Several years back, I decided to stop dying my hair. There were many reasons why I stopped, but the biggest reason was that I started looking at my hair differently.

As I get older, my skin also is starting to look different and act differently. There are lines on my face that were not there before. When I look in the mirror I still see that girl of my youth but she has a different face now, but I started looking at my appearance differently.

Our natural scars, wrinkles, gray hair, achy joints, they too are a part of our story. Each represents a moment in time we’ve lived through. Each line, gray hair, and discomfort are the storylines of our life. each has something to say about where we’ve been, what we’ve experienced.

No, they don’t tell an action story as a physical scar may.

No, they don’t tell a heart story like an emotional scar might.

But, they do tell a story. 

Laugh lines around our mouths and crow’s feet in the corner of our eyes tell the story of all the laughter we’ve experienced in our lives.

Stretch marks and a slightly poofy and sagging belly tell of the generations we helped create through childbirth.

Those arms that aren’t quite as defined as they once were, tell of the strength we’ve used in every aspect of out life.

That gray hair speaks of the years we’ve lived and the wisdom we’ve gained and brought along with us.

Tell Your Story

Our world is obsessed with youth. On a regular basis, we are bomb barded with products and information that tell us we are in the wrong body. Take this pill for that. Take that pill for this. Use this product for a youthful appearance. Buy this membership for a more youthful body. Buy that car, that phone, keep up, KEEP UP!!

Well, we don’t have to keep up. God planned each scar, whether it be physical, emotional, or natural, each one was so carefully designed so that we always walk away knowing something more profound about ourselves, others, the world or God himself.

Our lives are not meant to go backward. We’re not designed to be 50 and look 20. We’re not meant to hide our scars. We’re designed to embrace them, to cherish them, to learn from them and to pass on what we’ve learned from them.

Your scars are the storyline of your life.

Tell your story!!

At just the right time, God will use your scars and their story to help someone, give to someone, or love someone through something. All the scars you carry are not in vain. They carry a purpose. They carry a plan.

YOUR TURN!

What Scar Story Do You Have to Tell?