A part of me always wanted tattoos. I used to constantly draw on myself... especially during church.
On October 6th, 2016, I got my first tattoo!
Originally, my first tattoo was going to be a semicolon [;] which symbolizes suicide awareness. I was inspired by Project Semicolon, which is self-described as a "movement dedicated to presenting hope and love to those who are struggling with depression, suicide, addiction, and self-injury. Project Semicolon exists to encourage, love, and inspire."
The idea behind the semicolon is that it's used when a sentence could have ended with a period, but the author chooses to pause with the semicolon and carry on with the sentence. Likewise, instead of ending your life, take a pause and carry on. Additionally, the semicolon also has a spiritual meaning: where non-Christians think our lives end with a period, we as believers know that it is only a pause with a semicolon and our sentence continues.
But tattoos are expensive. The baseline price for tattoos is generally $50, and I thought that $50 for a dot and a comma was a bit too much. I looked up tattoos other people had with a semicolon and fell in love with this one.
This year's theme was "Warrior," which is coincidentally tattooed on my left wrist.
The theme was derived from Ephesians 6:10-20, which is a rather well-known passage in the Bible written by the apostle Paul. In short, the passage discusses the "armor of God," which is a metaphor referring to physical pieces of armor representing spiritual attributes that each believer is equipped with. Included in the armor is the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace (commonly referred to as shoes of peace), the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God).
The thought of being an enlisted soldier in God's army is such a strong image that resonates powerfully with me. One of my favorite worship songs is Forever by Kari Jobe:
The war on death was waged
The power of hell forever broken
The ground began to shake
The stone was rolled away
His perfect love could not be overcome
So death, where is your sting?
Our resurrected King
Has rendered you defeated!
I love this revelation that my God has already won the war. I, whether I realize it or not, am fighting a battle everyday, and I can choose to fight for the winning side or the losing side. Why wouldn't I choose God?
At camp, we discussed different schemes of the enemy, and one is the lie that a spiritual battle does not exist, but Ephesians 6:12 says otherwise:
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
So whenever your friends are irritating you, your parents keep nagging you, or your siblings make you want to choke them (all hypothetically speaking, of course), remember that you are not battling these people, you are fighting a spiritual battle.
Although I originally chose to tattoo "warrior" primarily because it looks great, I am glad to say that I now have a new meaning for the word as a constant reminder to fight the good fight.
