It was about this time last year that my dog Pongo died. (the actual date was jan. 5) I was feeling kinda sad and I thought about him. So let's just take a moment and pay our respects, shall we? (pause). But this isn't exactly what my post is about. I was thinking about the various marks he left on me. my scars. He gave me 4. One on my left forearm when he bit me when i tried to take back the food he stole off the table...and 3 on the lower half of my face when i ambushed him while he was sleeping.

Just thinking about the ones on my face...i remember thinking that it was the absolute end of the world. especially when i came home from the hospital with some 17 very dark, very obvious, very hideous stitches on my face. I thought it was the end of my life, that i'd be the next quasimodo. I cried for FOREVER and i nearly killed myself (tres exaggerated) when my dad tried to take pictures of me and my stitches. But today? sure, you can still see them, and they turn purple when it's cold and BRIGHT red when i've been boozing, but it's not enough to make you barf (or so i hope not ;).

Just thinking about this reminded me how a lot of things seem like the end of the world. but they're really not. One of the biggest things that i learned at urbana was that IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU. I freak out when i get a crappy mark or i think that someone's mad at me or whatever, but it's not important...it's really not. We're all part of the body of Christ and it seems as though people use this passage to declare their importance. but i personally see it another way. Because we are just parts of the body, what matters is what the whole collective body does. You still need to do your part, of course, but the glory should go soley to Christ who is the head.

So what does this have to do with facial scars? everything. It's not about you. So when you're stressed out about things that seem to mean the world take a step back and think again. I'm not saying that you're not important to God, because you are - if the purpose of life is to find and serve God, what the crap are you stressing about?