Since a fairly young age I have had one idea for a tattoo: a bunch of grapes, so once I'm all wrinkled, it'll be a bunch of raisins and still make sense as a tattoo.
I must admit that the idea of a tattoo has started to dig a little deeper than that.
The biggest thing about tattoos - and you can't have the discussion without this coming up - is that they're THERE FOR A WHILE, which has constantly been the largest roadblock in my mind towards ever getting one. I've never had an idea (other than the grapes) that I really thought was worth having on me as long as there is a me for it to be on.
I already believe that tattoos say a lot about the person who wears them. If your tattoo says "PARTY NAKIT", that's broadcasting a completely different message than, say, a wedding band that will never fall off or get lost.
So what do I want to say about myself forever? Who do I want to say it to? Who don't I need to say it to? How much can I say? What is worth saying?
If I'm gonna put it on myself, it's gonna have to be... man, it's gonna have to be BIG. It's gonna have to be something that makes the first slide of a Power Point about me. I mean, I really like Twinkies, but it seems that might be a dumb message to communicate to people across the room at all times. I would like to make sure that I'm saying something that's worth saying. Even with as much as I totally dig on Led Zeppelin, I don't feel like that's something crying out to be broadcast on an epidermal frequency.
But there ARE things that I want to say, and the thing about saying them with tattoos is that it seems to be a connection into another subset of the world that a lot of people in Christian circles are uncomfortable reaching out to. This could just be a reflection of my own experience, who knows, but it seems that I've run across a lot of negative attitudes and judgmental thinking towards those who choose to decorate themselves with tattoos. Is it just because of the single reference against tattoos found in the Bible (Leviticus 19:28)? Or is it because of the association between tattoos and the counterculture?
Jesus strikes me as a remarkably countercultural figure. I can only hope to be even a fraction of what He was, and I especially feel called to go out to the ones Jesus specifically stated He was called to - the tax collectors and sinners, the "sick", not the healthy.
There's a lot of power in tattoos, especially among those who actually have tattoos. Every tattoo - whether a good decision or not - represents something that the person who wears it thought (at least at one point) to be worth saying forever.
Is it worth saying that I am completely sold to following my God through His Son, listening to His Spirit? Can I put that out there? Is that allowed?
I don't even know if I'll ever wind up getting a tattoo. I've been thinking about it, and I've got a couple ideas... but the only reason I'd even get it is to bear witness to those in the darkness who don't know that there is a better way. If I can show someone how worthwhile my faith is for me, maybe that will lead to a conversation that changes things for them.
Who knows, maybe I should just get the entire text of Mere Christianity on my bicep.
(OK, that might be a little small... Definitely more room on my stomach...)
