The Most Beautiful Thing I’ve Seen 02 - Walking Wounded

I was walking Scout this morning when I saw this deer crossing the street. The poor thing was hobbling along as its front leg was injured. Yet it kept going and didn’t give up. I know I’ve seen her before in the neighborhood and possibly also have seen her fawns too as I’ve seen her with some little ones (including the ones I saw the other night in the same area of town). I wonder about what happened to her - was it an accident? Was it recent? Was it intentional by someone? I’ll never know. But when I saw her this morning, I thought of what I read in the last chapters of Lisa Gungor’s book.

She shared about the scars of her childhood in her family, her church, and how that affected her. Like the doe I saw, her “limp” would be pretty understandable. Yet what I marveled at was her strength that kept her going through it all.

Her sharing of all this wasn’t a way of blaming but instead helping to paint the picture of how what has come before has shaped who she is becoming today. But there’s a reminder in this also for me about remembering that everyone has scars from their lives - memories, emotions, physical, and spiritual just to name a few. Some are obvious like the limp that this doe had. Others are not as obvious.

It speaks to a quote that I’ve heard many times in the last few years - “Be kind because everyone is fighting some kind of battle.” Another way to put it is to be kind because we all have scars. What a difference it would make in discourse today if ALL of our first priority wasn’t “Winning” but instead “be kind”?

That’s what I love about Jesus. He wasn’t about winning. He wasn’t about making others look foolish. He was about meeting people where they were at, acknowledging their scars, and loving them as they were and helping them to move towards healing and restoration. What if we lived in such ways?

Paul spoke to such an idea in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 - Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we may be able to comfort those experiencing any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

Also, here are the two fawns I mentioned...