THE BEAUTY OF THE SCAR

THE BEAUTY OF THE SCAR
The following story by Lih Yuh Kuo appears in "Chicken Soup For the Soul":
A little boy invited his mother to attend his elementary school's first
teacher-parent conference. To the little boy's dismay, she said she would
go.
This would be the first time that his classmates and teacher met his mother
and he was embarrassed by her appearance. Although she was a beautiful
woman,
there was a severe scar that covered nearly the entire right side of her
face. The boy never wanted to talk about why or how she got the scar.
At the conference, the people were impressed by the kindness and natural
beauty of his mother despite the scar, but the little boy was still
embarrassed
and hid himself from everyone. He did, however, get within earshot of a
conversation between his mother and his teacher, and heard them speaking.
"How did you get the scar on your face?" the teacher asked.
The mother replied, "When my son was a baby, he was in a room that caught
on fire. Everyone was too afraid to go in because the fire was out of
control,
so I went in. As I was running toward his crib, I saw a beam coming down
and I placed myself over him trying to shield him. I was knocked
unconscious
but fortunately, a fireman came in and saved both of us." She touched the
burned side of her face. "This scar will be permanent, but to this day, I
have
never regretted doing what I did."
At this point, the little boy came out running towards his mother with
tears in his eyes. He hugged her and felt an overwhelming sense of the
sacrifice
that his mother had made for him. He held her hand tightly for the rest of
the day.
In a similar manner, Jesus Christ bears a scar -- many scars, in fact.
There are those who find that somewhat embarrassing ("You mean to tell me
you
worship a man who was crucified?") . However, realizing that his ugly scars
are the result of his efforts to save me, they suddenly take on a special
beauty.
Those scars led Thomas to say, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28). They
lead me to say the same thing. I'm so thankful that something so ugly and
horrible
has taken on such beauty, because of the great love that Jesus Christ had
for me.
"He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are
healed."
(Isa. 53:5).
Have a great day!
Alan Smith
Helen Street Church of Christ
Fayetteville, North Carolina