Scars

Encouragement can come from the strangest place and just when you need it most. Isn't it funny how that happens? I bought this cutting board at one of my favorite local antique shops. Like most cutting boards it is well used, showing lots of cuts and knicks. If it had been smooth and unused I would have passed it by. Its well used, marred, distressed, worn look is that special something that I am looking for when I go to the antique store.

I will crawl under benches, and dig through boxes, move stuff out of corners to see what is hiding close to the wall; I'll stretch to reach the barely reachable top of a shelf and will step back, not to see the whole area, but to see individual items that I can't see while I am standing surrounded by so many pieces. Stepping back allows me to focus in on one piece among so many. Yes, I will search high and low to find those well used and scarred items. As I painted this board, I admired the roughness of it, the worn-ness, the scars and it brought to mind Christ's work in me. Like this piece I was scarred, forgotten, used, tossed away. But He saw me, one among so many lost and discarded souls, and He bought me when I was worthless; purchased me for a price I could never repay. As I watched the scars on this board change into something beautiful as I applied the paint, I thought of how He makes all things beautiful in His time; not removing the scars but using them to enhance the beauty. He would know about scars, He has scars made beautiful too.

When I was finished painting, I ran my hands over the scars on this board and was pleased with it. I hope when He is finished with me, He will be pleased. If you have scars that only remind you of failures, hopelessness, hurt, pain, loss; give those scars to Him and see what He will do. You will be surprised. After all, He will crawl under benches, and dig through boxes, move stuff out of corners to see where you are hiding; He will stretch to reach the barely reachable top of a shelf and even stoop to the lowest place just to reach you. How do I know? Because He did it for me.