Scars

Nov 26, 2020    Trey McGuire

Today, you are bombarded with the idea of being thankful...and yes, we all have things that we can, and should, be thankful for.

Family, friends, love, health, jobs, sustenance, and so much more...
All of these deserve our most sincere gratitude, for they are all blessings in our lives.

Many times, Thanksgiving Day always reminds us that we should be thankful, but deep down, deep in the recesses of our heart, if we're being honest, we just flat out hurt...

Can it be possible to look in the mirror and see the scars and yet still be thankful?

Six years ago today my mom passed away.
Three years ago this coming Sunday my wife's dad passed away.
This is the first Thanksgiving Day without my grandmother and my dad.

I know first hand that this holiday brings many of those same pains for some of those whom I call friend. It seems as if this year has taken so much from so many and left in its wake a trail of destruction that has left the scars carved into the very fabric of our lives.

Can we be thankful for the scars?
Can we be thankful for what they represent?

Can we look at the scar on the slit wrist and know that at some moment in life we tried to end it all, yet somehow, the wound that was meant to end it all, it somehow healed and left a constant reminder of the misery associated with that time in our life? Is it possible to look at that same scar on the slit writs and remember that point of life and, while the intent was destruction, somehow now it represents and reminds you of a broken life that is healing?

You see, scars always tell two stories...
One, an epic tale of how injury happened either because of fate or mistake...
Two, a very real story still being penned of how healing is happening...

Some scars leave pain and some scars leave holes, some are interesting to look at while others are utterly disgusting, some are almost invisible while still others can not even begin to be hidden.

Today, on this Thanksgiving Day situated amongst one of the most trying years many of us have ever faced, what story does your scar tell? What lessons does it produce? What healing does it represent...

For the personal scars mentioned above...
The scar left from my mom represents the fact that she loved me well and chose me as her son from the day she adopted me.
The scar from the phone call telling me they were doing CPR on my father-in-law reminds me that a man stepped into my life and was so much more to me than a father-in-law ever had to be.
The scar of my grandmother tells a miraculous story of not just a woman who loved her family well but one who prayed for us all constantly and fought for every breath she could get just to know that her last grandchild was born.
The scar of my dad not being here is one that reminds me that all the hell of life can somehow, in its own twisted yet divine way, be what was needed to grow and change.

All of these scars have allowed me to sit face to face with Warriors and friends who have and will face loss. And somehow, all of these scars are all intertwined with other scars of various sizes...some of which were small and hidden and large and glaring...some of which brought with them deep pain and some of which brought with them minimal discomfort. Yet somehow, somehow they all work together to tell a story of a life that is better because they all exist.

Today, when you look in the mirror, what do you see? Allow me to challenge you...don’t be afraid to ask yourself what you CAN see through your scars?

So today, I'm thankful for the scars....yes, the unhidden, painful, nasty looking, gut wrenching scars...for they tell a story that is woven together with many people of whom none of us would be who we are on this Thanksgiving Day of 2020 without both mine and theirs.

-Trey