“‘Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.

Leviticus 19:28

My skin? It’s untouched. No tattoos on me.

I can remember a time when getting a tattoo was something reserved for sailors and bikers. Nowadays everybody is all marked up. Virtually every waiter or waitress has something interesting on their arm. I like to ask the story behind the tattoo–they are usually quite meaningful and well thought out. Either that or they are pretty swirls and abstract designs.

They are artistic and personal and a way of self-expression that intrigues me.

But not enough for me to do it.

For some people, getting a tattoo is seen as disrespectful, or even downright against scripture. That’s not my issue. Heck, the verse before Leviticus 19:28 says not to shave the sides of your beard, and the verse afterwards advises fathers not to turn their daughters into prostitutes!

These scriptural admonitions are, in my estimation, from a very different time and culture. While they’re interesting to read, I still plan to eat shellfish and order my steak medium rare. Those ancient laws don’t appear to apply to me in the same way today.

So that’s not it.

Other people avoid tattoos because they’re afraid of the pain. I get that, but I understand the “No pain, no gain” mentality. If I really wanted a tattoo, I think I could endure the needle.

No, the reason I don’t have a tattoo is because I can’t for the life of me think of the perfect thing to ink into my arm, forever. For the most part, once you get a tattoo, you’re stuck with it.

I can’t think of something I want to identify with for the rest of my life. I thought about a cross and flame. I could sport it proudly, but do I really want my denominational affiliation to be the first thing people know about me? Maybe I’d like to work up to that instead of clobbering people with my church.

I thought about a tattoo of a zipper over the scar from where I had heart surgery, but I honestly don’t want that much attention drawn to it.

Honestly, the only thing I’ve ever thought of seriously doing is drawing a small circle on my arm.

The circle would represent a port. The place where my soul connects with my body. Just a simple place to remind me that the physical and the spiritual coexist for me. Then, when I am needing spiritual nourishment, I could just tap my arm as if I were accessing my soul. Like I’m plugged in to the Holy Spirit.

I’m still thinking about it. If I indeed had a “soul spot” added to my skin, it might remind me that there’s more to life than what I can see. But isn’t that the opposite of what a tattoo is meant to accomplish?

The whole thing is very confusing to me. I’m probably making too big a deal about it–maybe I should just bite the bullet and get a heart with “Mom” in it like they used to do.

Or maybe I’ll remember that I have already been marked, by grace, as a child of God through my baptism.

Whatever I choose to do,

that mark is PERMANENT.

Have a great week,

Mitch