When reflecting on our lives we recognize both moments of good and bad, both moments of strength and weakness, and both moments of triumph and defeat. While all of our lives are a mixture of these things, why does it seem like some are more evident in our minds? We don’t praise our strengths, but instead pick apart our weaknesses. We don’t glory in our victories, rather sulk in our defeats. We feel the good in the moment, but allow the bad to linger in constant torment. Even in our greatest moments of optimism, we can’t seem to entirely let go because as soon as we seem to forget, something happens to bring it all rushing back.
I believe scars remind us the past is real, but without them it becomes easy to forget how far we’ve come. In them are painted the stories of the hurt we’ve experienced, but even more than that, they represent the hope that we can overcome. If every tomorrow is truly better than today, we can know that even though there will be bumps in the road, the future is still bright.
Therefore, our greatest testimony does not lie in our successes, but in the failures we refused to let keep us down. Oftentimes our lives are the pictures of grace that say far more than we ever could. While each individually unique, they all hold the power to impact, move, and change those after us. What we feel was our greatest mistake is really nothing but His greatest glory.