I decided I am getting a tattoo.
I’m getting my brother to draw it up because he’s an amazing artist. And I’m thinking about getting it when I go to Orlando in January, which would be appropriate since I will be seeing my inspiration in that trip also.
For those of you who don’t know, I am a Christian, but I am NOT a Bible-thumper. I am one of the most accepting, nonjudgmental, and open-minded people you will ever meet. I believe Christianity is about love; loving everyone and showing grace and forgiveness. I do not believe Christianity is about being perfect, or even trying to be, and I do not believe it is about following all the rules. I think Jesus understands that words are just words, so yes, I do cuss; I think Jesus understands that people make mistakes, so I feel free to make them.
I don’t shove my beliefs down anyone’s throat, ever. In fact, most of my friends are atheist; I realize my beliefs are not the only ones that exist and I realize I cannot convince anyone who isn’t willing to believe what I believe.
That being said, I have decided to get lyrics tattooed. Before you go saying that’s stupid, I have chosen carefully. It’s not like I want to get the lyrics to Ice Ice Baby or something. I’m choosing lyrics that apply to me as a person and will always apply to me, so that I will look back and see my tattoo as a piece of art, instead of a youthful mistake. I’ve narrowed my choices down to a few.
- “Please take my life and use it. I’m ready.” : This is from ‘So, In This Hour…’ by The Rocket Summer. This line literally gives me goosebumps every time I hear it and I can’t really explain it much more than that. The justification is personal.
- “And when You heal my broken wings, yes, You heal my everything. You tell me to live.” : From the end of the live version of ‘So, In This Hour…’ which was so incredibly moving to witness live.
- “Destroy my pride.” : From ‘Tell Me Something Good’ by The Rocket Summer. The full line is “God, I know that it’s wrong, so please just make my heart right inside, and destroy my pride” but I feel like that is too wordy.
Those are the lines that have really spoken to me, but it’s a big decision, so I’m taking a few months to think about it. Any thoughts?
To elaborate more on my tiny answer, the lyrics I have tattooed are “það besta sem guð hefur skapað er nýr dagur” which means “the best thing god has made is a new day,” although the Icelandic understanding of “god” is a very vague supernatural thing beyond our understanding, unlike the Judeo-Christian concept of god. The other lyric I have is “with a buzz in our ears, we play endlessly” which is basically a testament to being able to continue with childish awe and music and how no amount of distractions can stop me.
In any case - I do not now nor will I ever regret my tattoos. I’m getting more as well, integrating many more lyrics and quotes, from “Fight not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and gaze not into the abyss, for the abyss gazes also into you,” to, “Pride yourself and you will not endure,” to, “All we love and all we know must reach an end,” and, “No matter how it starts, nothing ever ends,” and etc…
The idea is, sit on a quote long enough that you know it’s something that is a matter of complete permanence to you - something that just cannot be taken away from your being. Something as permanent as the tattoo is going to be. Think the same for images - and I would highly suggest going to a really good tattoo artist (there is one in Clearwater that I highly recommend, Kurt at Chicago Custom Tattoos, he did mine, which is just incredible work, and he’s cheap), and playing around with the idea of integrating imagery, and plain words rarely look very good outside of the context of some imagery.
Is Clearwater near Orlando? Your tattoos (present and future) sound wonderful. I’ve been thinking about these lyrics for a few months now, and I’m going to wait until at least January to actually get them. My brother wants to incorporate sacred geometry into my tattoo somehow and I think that would also be really meaningful and beautiful at the same time, but I’m definitely going to sit on it for a little while at least. Thank you for the advice :)
