Scars

I met the sweetest young lady in the checkout line at a local store the other day.  She welcomed me through her line with, "Hey honey, how ya doin' today?"  As we chatted briefly while she rang up my purchases,  I noticed her tattoos on her arms.  Now, this may be odd to some, but I love to ask people what their tattoos represent.  I have found that there are usually pretty cool stories behind them.

As I chatted with her about her ink, she pointed to the one on her bicep, which was mostly covered up by her shirt, and said, "Well, I designed this one myself.  It says, 'Life is a beautiful struggle.'"  I thoughtfully considered that message and shook my head in agreement as I responded, "Amen, love.  I know that's true."  She then went on to tell me how she's overcome cancer and struggles daily with an incurable disease. 

I'd say that she knows life is a struggle.  But it was her wording of a beautiful struggle that I could not get out of my head.  It's been swimming in there ever since. She was a beautiful representation of realness and rawness that I believe we all crave in other human beings.  And her acknowledgment of struggles being beautiful completely resonated with me.

I've been studying the book of Job for several months now and one of the lessons I am gleaning is that life is filled with trials and struggles.  But they are beautiful in a Holy kind of way.  And we need to acknowledge them.  There is beauty in the breakdown.  Facades fade, glitz and glamour are gone, only realness and rawness remain because when you are facing a struggle, you don't have time or energy to care about the image of perfection anymore. 

And this is exactly when Jesus shines brightest in us.  Humility becomes beauty.  Through the cracks of our brokenness, His Holy light shines through, penetrating the darkness that threatens to scar us more.  He bends to pick up His children who have fallen, bruised and skinned up.  He dusts them off and puts them back on solid ground.  And then He tells us to proudly display our scars.  They were not all for naught (2 Corinthians 1:3-7). 

The Cross points us to the beauty of scars; to the truth that life is a beautiful struggle.  But it's all worth it.  The scarring of his hands and feet are proof that you are worth it.