Tattoos of Hope (Part 1)
Classic rock
music flowed out of the large speakers on the floor. I closed my eyes and took
several deep, controlled breaths to help calm my heart rate. I tried to turn my
focus to the familiar music instead of what was about to happen. “In through my
nose and slowly out through my mouth. Just like I instruct my patients. It’s
only going to be an hour and a half. I got this! Just gotta breathe and stay
still,” I tried some motivational self-talk as I sat awkwardly on the soft
burgundy bench. My heart thought we were running the Boston Marathon, and
apparently, my hands and legs thought so as well by how much they were
sweating.
I tried to have
patience while the artist prepared his ink and needles. He poured out each
color one by one—pink, red, black, white, and green. He wrapped the needle with
some blue saran wrap looking stuff, but it wasn’t doing what he needed it to
do. He kept retrying and then gave up. I hope we don’t need that I thought. As
he continued to prepare, I attempted to distract myself with the familiar Red
Hot Chili Peppers’ song Under the Bridge, discussing the origin with my
husband. Part of me couldn’t believe I
was following through with this crazy idea, and the other part was thrilled it
was finally happening.

My husband, Dan,
sat behind me with a coy grin on his face as though he was trying to hold back
laughter, but I knew he was also nervous for me. As the artist brought the
needle to my leg, I exhaled like a steam engine, attempting to chug up a
hill—slow and steady. I tried not to clench every muscle in my body. I had to
see the expressions on my face, and I must admit from the selfies I snapped in
the process my expressions were quite amusing. Dan made sure to take multiple
pictures to capture the moment of my pain and awkwardness. As the artist
colored in the picture, my thigh stung as though multiple little needles were
being dragged across my skin. Probably because that’s exactly what was
happening.
The event was a
big deal for me, because I'm rather a wuss. My brothers will go skydiving and
bungee jumping. Not me. No. Thank You. I'm not a fan of heights, bats, snakes,
or enclosed places. I'll go on your average roller coaster, but I'll scream my
head off the entire time. I've always been the type to talk about getting a tattoo,
but that's all it was. Talk. When it came to the follow through, that wasn't
going to happen. Until I was shaken to the point I needed to have a distinct
mindset engraved on my skin to remind me daily of my new focus.
- What in your life has caused you to change your focus or mindset?
- Are you in a place in your life where you need to change your focus, but are struggling to see through the fog?
- Has anything shaken you to your core that you needed to do a big reevaluation of your life, purpose, mindset?
Psalm 33:18
Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those
who fear him,
4 Comments
Love you! Also love that you chose a permanent reminder of the glorious future Jesus has planned for you. ❤️ (aaaaand glad your tattoo choice wasn’t a barcode lol)
ReplyDeleteOh. My. Word. I forgot about that! Oh, crazy teenage years!
DeleteLove it! Glad you are sharing it with others. We may not go and have it tattooed on our leg, But we all need HOPE! Great job!
ReplyDeleteCertainly true! So many ways to put truth in front of us on a daily basis :-)
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