The Tattoo

I’m a people-watcher.

It has always been interesting to me to note how people choose to look and behave in public. Oh, don’t get me wrong…it isn’t because I think I always look presentable or behave accordingly. Ha! Rather, I find it interesting to ponder the events that led up the specific moment in time that they happen to cross my line of sight.

And what better place is there to people-watch than the water park?

Actually, I don’t even realize that I’m taking in the details of other people until something grabs my attention. The tattoo did.

He was fairly young…well, younger than me anyway, with a slender build and short hair. He happened to be right in front of me playing with his children and I noticed that he had many tattoos. Tattoos, in themselves, often draw my eye. It always intrigues me to note what types of things people choose to permanently display on their bodies. A couple of words just jumped out at me. Did that say something about “save me?” Huh? So I watched until I could see the whole phrase.

Written across his upper chest right below his collar bone in upper-case old-English text was printed: SAVE ME FROM MYSELF.

It stayed with me the rest of the evening…and the next day…until this morning when I finally decided to put down my thoughts.

Throughout my life, I’ve made choices that have created my path in the world. No, things didn’t just happen to me. Life isn’t about luck or misfortune. Don’t get me wrong, I realize that we all enter the world with immediate advantages and disadvantages, but we all are also given the free-will to respond to these circumstances and the ability to make the decisions that dictate the course of our lives. We all have burdens that we bear—even those who keep them well-hidden. It’s not WHAT we bear, but HOW we bear it that really defines us.

The fact of the matter is…we are all sinners. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a hypocrite is a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings. Think about it. By definition, if you are a Christian you are a hypocrite. I am a hypocrite. I love God. God hates sin. I know it is wrong to sin. I speak out against sin. And yet, I sin. I am a hypocrite. I don’t want to be. I try not to be. But I am.

It cracks me up that we put so much stock into the “scientific discoveries” of man. How many of these are later proven wrong, even laughable, by future generations? Yes, we have developed some pretty cool technology—but could we develop a self-sustaining eco-system? What about a human eye? Hmmm…not even just one strand of brilliant DNA? Ha! And yet sometimes I choose to ignore God because I think I have it all figured out.

There are times I pray for comfort when I’m mourning loss, healing when I’m sick, help for others when I see them hurting, and of course thanks for my blessings. But most of my prayers can be summed up in the words of a young father’s tattoo:

Lord God, save me from myself.