Scars

I was thinking about scars last night because my back was hurting and I have a (unrelated) shot scheduled today. It is hard to explain the bouncing ball on this one, so I will not even attempt it. But scars are a visible reminder of physical pain or trauma. I have plenty of scars from injuries and surgeries over the years. For example I have a scar of my cheek from having a mole removed while I was a missionary in Michigan. I have the scar on my back from my back surgery in ’02 (ironically from an injury sustained while a missionary in Michigan) and the non-related scar also on my back because while doing the surgery, for some reason, they took out one of my moles on my back (it is kind of snarky looking.) I have the scar on my leg from cutting it when I was young shaving because I wanted to be like mommy and then cut it again in the same spot as a teen because I was shaving and someone scared me when they knocked on the door. There is a scar on my right leg from falling 2 years ago and cracking my knee cap and the resulting surgery from that. The scars that are hidden in my belly button from abdominal surgery when I was 21. I have a scar on my arm from the nastiest paper cut I got at work one day and another one from burning my arm cooking and then the one on my finger tip from when I almost cut it off doing a Pampered Chef show. I have little scars all over my hands and arms from when I played Evil Knievel and did a pretty sweet bike jump or when my fist went through the bathroom window when I was a kid. I have little white dot scars all over my arms from little sores I get when I am sick and my Frankenstein scars from having moles burned off either side of my neck.

While I do not like to remember the pain inflicted getting the scars, each one serves as a reminder of some interesting story that makes my life remarkable and fascinating. No one else in the world has scars that match mine. Which made me wonder if we have scars on our bodies from trauma do we also have scars on our souls from emotional or spiritual trauma and what must they look like? Obviously our souls heal the same as our body does, with time and help of a physician. I think it depends on how we heal. Like if my soul hurts because of emotional pain until it feels split in two, and I try to heal it myself what does the scar look like? Conversely, if my soul is torn because of pain and I use the Savior’s atonement to heal me I think it does not leave a blatant scar. The scars I have that have been sewn by someone who knows that they are doing look a lot less noticeable than the ones that just healed on their own. Even emotional pain healed by the Savior leaves a reminder for us. While we might not remember every bit of the pain we felt it is good to learn from our soul scars so we become stronger and more resilient to pain in the future; we must remember who we can turn to in time of pain.