"Then [Jesus] said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side...'"
-John 20:27
Scars come from a multitude of circumstances - accidents, surgeries, self-harm, etc. The smallest may fade completely with time; others remain for life. Regardless of the circumstances of their origin, society shies away from confronting the truth behind them. Scars tell a story, yet people today mistakenly perceive only a blemish, a stain on a scar's bearer. Consequently, many wish to rid themselves of their scars. They yearn to fix this imperfection. But this desire is also misguided as it overlooks the wisdom scars offer.
Having self-harmed in the past, I of course exhibit the marks of a crippling depression. They remind me of times when I desired death more than life. Times when I could not escape the mental images of myself drowning and disfigured. Times when my brain lost all rationality and discovered the briefest respite in the searing, hot pain across my arm. My scars tell this story. And I would not trade them for anything in the world. Actually, if they disappeared, I can only imagine feeling a marked disappointment.
The realization of this startled even myself. Although they express the story of pain, I have found that my scars tell much, much more. You see, I believe fully that even in those moments God was shielding me from a worse fate. With no true desire to survive, I cannot explain how else I made it through those times. I lived hour by hour and day by day, unable to process the coming events of the next week or even the next few days. Even if my brain experienced some chemical imbalance, spiritually, God fought for me when I could not myself. He roped back Death, saving me from his grasping, clawing reach. This, then, is the full story of my scars, and this is what I would want the world to understand if they saw them. Instead of incurring judgment, a "what's wrong with him" look, I long to share the story of God's mercy and love as He protected His ailing son.
God similarly redeemed the scars of Jesus as the disciples gaped at those in his hands and his side. For His scars ran deeper, not only illustrating the pain that He willingly underwent for humanity but also His conquering death. They proved to Thomas that this was indeed Israel's awaited Savior. Would a passerby today behold Jesus and recoil at the grievous marks, or would they discern the beauty within them?
Learn from your scars. See if there is not something beneath the surface. And never shy from telling the world.