“Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’”
- John 20:27
My human and one of his friends were sitting around talking the other day.
I was nearby… of course I was.
You never know when a conversation might involve snacks.
They started talking about scars.
One pointed to one on his arm and told how he got it.
My human showed him another.
Before long, they were swapping scar stories like fishermen swapping stories about the one that got away.
Some came from accidents.
Some from surgeries.
Some from doing something they probably shouldn’t have been doing in the first place.
I understand that last category.
I once chased something through a briar patch that absolutely did not need chasing.
But then their conversation got quieter.
Because not every scar can be seen.
There are scars from losing someone you love.
Scars from the words somebody said twenty years ago that somehow still hurt today.
Scars from disappointment.
Scars from the betrayal you never expected.
Scars from the failure nobody knows about.
Scars from the season when life knocked you down and you weren’t sure you would ever get back up.
Those scars don’t show up on your skin.
But they’re real.
There are scars nobody notices because we’ve gotten pretty good at covering them up.
I looked down at my old paws.
They aren’t as smooth as they used to be.
I’ve got a few bumps and marks myself.
Turns out living leaves marks on you.
But listening to them reminded me of something I’ve heard my human talk about before.
Jesus had scars too.
After the resurrection, Jesus could have returned without a mark on Him.
But He didn’t.
He showed Thomas His hands.
He showed him His side.
The scars remained.
Maybe because scars don’t always tell the story of what defeated us.
Sometimes they tell the story of what we survived.
Sometimes they remind us where God carried us when we couldn’t carry ourselves.
And sometimes they become the very thing God uses to help somebody else who is walking through what we’ve already walked through.
My human’s scars tell stories.
His friend’s do too.
So do yours.
Seen and unseen.
Received, earned, and carried over the years.
But here’s what this old dog is learning.
You don’t have to be ashamed of your scars.
Jesus wasn’t.
He used His scars to show Thomas who He was and what He did for him… and us.
Maybe God can use ours the same way.
Not to show people how tough we are…
But to show them how faithful He has been.
Because every scar has a story.
And for those of us following Jesus, the story doesn’t end with the wound.
It ends with redemption and resurrection.
Keep the Faith… Carpe Diem
“He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
- Isaiah 53:5
