Tattoos are forever! How many times have you met someone who has one that they now regret? I once knew a girl who had a picture of a dog in a business suit riding on a bicycle on her back. Talk about regret! When my boys were in high school, they desperately wanted a tattoo. They would even draw out the artwork for what they wanted it to look like. They would often ask if they could get one. My husband and I would  say: “Draw it on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope. I will hold the envelope for a year, and then if you can tell me what’s on the paper and still want that tattoo a year from now, we will let you get it.” I’m not fully sure what I would have done if they had taken me up on the offer, but I can tell you that they changed their minds many times over and over. In fact, they still don’t have any ink today. Tattoos are forever. You better be sure that the one you get is going to have lasting meaning and value…or at least will be something that you will not regret.

I got a tattoo in the spring of 2017 at the ripe old age of…well…let’s just say I was already a grandmother.. It was a small cancer ribbon on the inside of my right wrist. This purple ribbon symbolizes “all cancers” (as opposed to pink for breast cancer, etc.), and it symbolizes the breast/lung/brain cancer that killed my sister. I got this tattoo as a gift for my sister before she died. She cried and cried when she saw it for two reasons. First, it was out of character for me (but something she had already done.) I think it felt validating to her that her sister whose life had looked so different than hers, would join her in that. Second, she knew it would be a forever memorial to her life. (Like I could ever forget my baby sister!)  It’s very special to me, because whenever this now-part-of–me ink catches my eye-I do think of her. I am beyond thankful for her life and the bond we shared.

The other thing I love about my tattoo is that  when my arms are held out wide, my tattoo looks like the cancer ribbon but if I hold my arm up as in a wave, it looks like a Christian fish. This was purposeful. It is also a testimony to the Lord and my commitment to follow him. For me, it is an oath that I want to be seen as one who walks with Jesus and that I long to be a “fisher of men.”

Now, why do I share this? Am I trying to get you to consider a tattoo or to think of them differently? No, I share this because tattoos remind me of something I love about God.

I’m not really sure why but I have always found Isaiah 49:16 to be very special: “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…” (ESV) or the Living Bible puts it this way: “I have tattooed your name upon my palm…”  When I think of that verse, I realize that God is fully and completely forever committed to me. He is not going to change his mind. In spite of the fact that in today’s culture tattoos are “all the norm,” from the tattoos I’ve seen, not many people have a name on their body except maybe of their child. People have learned that tattoos are forever, (or at least super difficult, expensive, and painful to remove). With the on-again-off-again of romantic relationships, it seems that “conventional wisdom” has led people not to put the name of a spouse or significant other on their body, because God forbid the relationship doesn’t last, then what? Tattoos are forever.  But God loves me enough to put my name on his hand. Think about how much you use your hands and how often you would see or “notice” ink on your hand. God knew that his love for me would never give out.

When I was reading something the other day, the word “disillusioned” jumped off the page at me. According to Merriam-Webster it means: the condition of being disenchanted; the condition of being dissatisfied or defeated in expectation or hope. Immediately I was struck by the fact that God is never disillusioned with me. It’s not like he signed up to be with me and then felt let down by who I really am. He doesn’t look at my chronic propensity to sin and wonder if and why he still loves me. He always knew what I would do. He always knew that I would sin and make bad choices, and in spite of that, he is committed to me. He loves me regardless.  

The church is the bride of Christ. Note what Ephesians 5:25-27 says about Christ and his bride:  “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”  So when God looks at me, he sees me as holy and blameless because of Christ. God loves me and he is willing to tattoo this bride’s name on his hand.  His love is forever, it will never wear out and for that reason; we are permanently etched on the palm of his hand.