“There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed, done with.”
–Harry Crews

Something about these words resonated with me this morning. I guess while they were poetic on one hand, they also reminded that some times scars remind me of a painful event. Which some times is not something that I want to be reminded of. But who am I to question the way God made the world. He could just have easily have made it is such that once the healing was done there were no scars at all. So He must have a reason for scars. Hmm.

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.”
–Psalm 139:14

So, In writing this email I was thinking almost immediately of the scars I see on trees, not necessarily scars on my own body. And so I wanted to include an image of a tree in my email. But in looking for that image I came across something very, very interesting. Something I had not given thought to about scars. Listen to this tidbit about the aspen tree scars. Changed my perspective a bit.

“Aspen Scars – The dark scars on the aspen tree’s white bark are caused by elk, deer and other foraging animals that nibble on the soft inner bark when deep snows bury grasses and shrubs. Besides chewing on aspen bark for food, elk and mule deer rub their antlers against the trunks to shed velvet in autumn. Other aspen scars are made by black bears marking their territory, and woodpeckers creating holes to search for insects or make nests. If injured or grazed on too severely, some of these aspen trees will die. Healthy aspens without scars thrive where there are fewer impacts from wildlife.”

Wow! God is so good when He causes me to think on these things a little more.

In His service,
Keith