Our scars are part of our story, but they are not its conclusion. The past is ours and will always be a part of us, and yet it is not all there is. It’s a process, moving from wounds to scars to grief to showing those scars. It takes time, and maybe therapy, and maybe being vulnerable in community, and maybe working through the twelve steps, and maybe making a lot of mistakes, and maybe experiencing a tiny bit of joy.
Nadia Bolz-Weber is an American theologian, New York Times bestselling author, and Lutheran minister. She served for ten years as the founding pastor of House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver, Colorado.