Scars

I was listening to the Mumford and Sons song (yes, they've sparked another blog post) "Not With Haste" when I heard the line "We will be who we are, and they'll heal our scars, sadness will be far away."

I've always thought of scars as having been healed, albeit imperfectly.  But they're not, some scars still hurt, and even the ones that don't leave a visual reminder of the events and the pain that caused them.  Looking at my hands now I have scars from playing touch football in a parking lot (I missed), playing soccer (missed again), crashing my bicycle, accidentally cutting myself with a pocket knife, a surprise attack from my brother etc.  I think we can lay to rest the mystery of why I don't get into sports.

I hate to wax cheesy (unless it's punny), but we carry emotional scars as well.  It has struck me lately how many things in my life or past have been stained by sin.  I'm not even talking about things that are blatantly sinful, but innocuous things that remind me of sin in my past.  I carry these memories, these scars, and no matter how close my walk with God is now, or how much closer it will be, I can't erase or forget my sinful past.

But my Jesus can.  He has already forgiven me my sins.  I've been catching up on some of Jon Acuff's blog, and he said in one post that God doesn't do "better".  He doesn't improve us.  God's business is "new", he makes us a new creation, and He will give us a new song to sing.

One day, when this sinful world goes away, I won't have to carry my scars anymore.  I'll be a new creation, and as the song goes on, "We will run and scream, you will dance with me, fulfill our dreams and we'll be free."

Photo by Kevin O'Mara