Words Have Meaning

I have a tattoo. John had one too.

There. I said it. Some people know, some don’t. Some people like it, others don’t. Honestly, I don’t care. I love it and I would even encourage my kids to get one that has meaning to them (both are interested) in a place where employers and grandparents won’t see.

My tattoo has tremendous meaning to me now…more than ever. And John’s was the theme of his funeral – Soli Deo Gloria, which roughly means “God alone gets the glory”. His friend designed his and my friend drew out mine. And these words are forever (?) printed on our bodies.

I wanted to remember the words that were on John’s body and place them in our house somehow, so I had my friend Kelly paint them. It now hangs over my bed – a daily reminder of John and how God should receive the glory for anything and everything.

I bet we all would agree that words can tear down or build up. We use words everyday - some more than others. We’ve all said things we shouldn’t have and we've all regretted things left unsaid. But that is not exactly what I am talking about here.

My one-word tattoo is a way of life. A daily, showertime, reminder that there is something worth living for. It is an idea, a belief, an encouragement. I had no idea 3 years ago that it would be something that means this much to me. Dare I say that God brought this word to me and led me to have it forever inked on my skin? Whatever. I did it and I am glad. It has such deep and profound meaning to me. Every day.

My word?

Hope.