Scars

What is a scar? According to dictionary.com, a scar is a mark left by a healed wound, sore, or burn or a lasting aftereffect of trouble, especially a lasting psychological injury resulting from suffering or trauma. Physical scars can often tell a story. I look at my own scars, and they bring back memories of things that have happened in my past. Some of those memories are more pleasant than others, though at the time when the injury occurred, very few of them were all that pleasant. Looking back, I can laugh about many of them. Probably one of the funniest was a small scar on my right hand that came from a scratch inflicted upon me by my friend, Rebecca, during a particularly enthusiastic game of Spoons. I’ll confess, I did laugh at the time when I was injured on that occasion. Probably my biggest scars are from my first teen camp. Hiking on an incline in sandals is ill advised…trust me. I was fortunate that I didn’t break any bones. I did need a tetanus shot and a bunch of stitches on my left knee. Being in the emergency room in a small town in North Carolina the same night as there was a carnival in town made for an interesting experience. Another funny one was the small scar just below my left kneecap. I got that one when I fell up the down escalator. Think about that one for a minute. I was at the mall shopping with my pastor’s wife, my friend, Rebecca (pastor’s daughter…same one who inflicted the Spoons injury), and my sister. We decided it would be fun to go the wrong way on the down escalator. I was the last one to go, and in the process of running up, I fell. After falling in an upward motion, the escalator started to take me down. I looked up to see some grumpy people waiting to go down and could not see any of the people that I was shopping with. They had walked away pretending not to know me. We all laughed about it after I cleaned myself up.

My scars are small and most of the stories that go along with them are of minor injuries. Only a few needed stitches and only one involved a broken bone. Here are Walter Reed, the scars are due to very serious injuries. Their scars tell very different stories from mine. You see a scar on someone’s throat, the chances are high that they had to have a tracheotomy to allow them to breathe. Straight scars are typically due to medical procedures. Jagged scars from usually from the initial injuries. Smaller scars tend to be from shrapnel. Some scars are the result of pulling together the remaining skin over what’s left of a person’s limb. Other scars are from procedures that were necessary for the person to be able to walk again. Some scars aren’t physical, but cause emotional or mental pain. Some wounds (both physical and other) are still healing and the scar tissue hasn’t formed yet. Walter Reed doesn’t really have a burn unit, but since many of the injuries were caused by explosions of some sort, they deal with less serious burns and the scars they leave behind. The scars you see here tell some serious stories that involve pain that I don’t even want to imagine. It was hard enough holding Justin’s hand through the worst of it. I can’t even begin to know what he was feeling, and honestly, I’m thankful that the pain medications caused him not to remember most of the first 6-8 weeks post injury. But as serious as the injuries, and as high of a number of scars here, the scars don’t make these men and women victims. Nobody here refers to the injured as “war victims”, they are called “wounded warriors”. Not only were most injured during service to our country, they have continued to fight now that they’re back. They fight to regain what was lost. They fight to find the “new normal”. If they see someone having a tough time, they’ll pick them up and fight with them. Life as they now know it may be difficult at times, but I haven’t heard any of them talk about giving up. They have too much life still to live, so many things still to do and accomplish. Scars are not evidence of having lost, they are evidence of healing. No, Justin will never get his original legs and feet back, but that doesn’t stop him from doing the things he loves. His injuries, his scars, may have changed how he looks, but they didn’t change who he is.

I was reading a book this evening which is what got me thinking about scars. The characters were talking about the resurrection of Jesus and of His scars. When Jesus rose from the grave, He could have removed all of His scars and had a perfect body. Instead, He chose to keep the scars as evidence of the sacrifice that He made for us. When Thomas doubted, Jesus told him to touch the scars on His hands and side. Jesus' scars tell a story of pain, of sacrifice, of grace, of forgiveness, and of love. Jesus willingly endured pain and death to forgive my sins and to give me the hope of Heaven after I die, and not just me, but every person who has ever and will ever live. Those are some pretty awesome scars that tell a wonderful story.