Okay. Enough of the drama. But this story is true. Amanda and I finally got our tattoos. After talking and scheming about is for the past three years we decided to make the leap and get it done. We went to the tattoo parlor ‘In the Blood’ which Amanda has school ties to and apparently it has some sort of Christian affiliation. We received tattoos from a wonderfully nice man name Travis who I would highly recommend based upon the fact that he called Amanda a nerd and had an x-ray of his ex-wife’s head hanging on the wall. Well that and the wonderful job he did on my tattoo.
And what a wonderful tattoo it is. Although it is located on my left foot I initially wanted it on my neck until my mom informed me that tattoos located there are “ghetto.” So instead of aggravating my parents further with this venture I opted for the foot. Anyway after much debate and contemplation I decided upon on the hymn lyric “with heavenly beauty shine.” Although there were a couple others in the running, I decided upon the tattoo mainly because it conveyed my calling.
Yes calling. That dreaded term that Geneva students immediately hear and cringe. Last semester I read a couple of different books that indirectly referenced calling. One was the “Eat, Pray, Love” and the other was the “Irresistible Revolution.” Although both books had their flaws (like everything else) I did pull out a thing or two about calling from their pages.
In “Eat, Pray, Love” author Elizabeth Gilbert related her search for her word. Her word being the culmination of all of her beliefs, passions, and dreams summed up into one simple, brief utterance. Gilbert saw defining herself as an essential component of living out her life and achieving her need for balance. Interestingly, Shane Claiborne’s also discussed such a search. However, his exploration was for a place. Claiborne’s search was for his Calcutta. A place where he could serve – a place in Christ. Similar to Gilbert, Claiborne searched in order to identify himself so that he could live out his life and calling.
After reading both these works I was split between finding a word and place. But then I thought couldn’t these things be combined? So I thought about it for a while. Read a lot. Reflected a lot. Cried a lot. And then read a lot more. And reflected a lot more. And cried a lot more. I won’t weigh you down with the specifics but I found that I was continually drawn to one specific concept though all of this. And that was beauty.
But not your typical run-of-the-mill shallow beauty. No. My beauty implied a level of completeness and that advocated for redemption. This beauty made love a revolution rather than a commodity. Beauty to me is a place of unhindered love in which I am able to be the creative and vulnerable person that I am commanded to be so that He is glorified.
Sorry for the crappy transition here, but since I wanted a tattoo I decided that somehow I needed to convey this concept of beauty. I needed to find something that would remind me of how I am called to live. So I searched through different hymns that featured the word beauty. I found numerous hymns with “beauty” in it, but the one that truly grasped me was from Remember the Sabbath. “Shine with heavenly beauty.” The words lay bare how I am called to live.
So if you are planning to get a tattoo or have one already tell me. I would love to hear your story.
this picture was inspired by amanda's sourness (she hasn't found her vampire yet). however, as her new tattoo expresses so wonderfully in french, she will continue to hope.
aerial view.
