Winters, Burton: Scars
Guest writer Larry Burton
“Scars are not signs of weakness, they are signs of survival and endurance.” Rodney A. Winters, Go Into the House
Though I have been listening to the spiritual hopes, concerns, and pleas of faithful people for more years than I care to count, I am still distressed when I hear words and sighs that signal the possibility of despair. I know I have no power in situations like that, however much I want to make things better; however much I want to offer hope.
My friend just sat there amid a loud stillness. He had been struggling with forgiveness for some time. He felt betrayed by a colleague who had deliberately lied about him, the result was being expelled from a group he enjoyed. Without recourse, I was afraid he might fall into a depression. I said nothing. I couldn’t find words. But then he began to speak. He said he had been praying, almost desperately one day before midweek Eucharist. Quietly, gradually a word impressed itself into his consciousness: endure. As he told me about this experience there was a sense that something had changed for him, something important. I knew he would retain the scars as injustice, but we both knew he would indeed endure for the sake of the Gospel.
Larry Burton
Joanna joannaseibert.com