“Gracious words are a honeycomb; sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”-Proverbs 16:24

“Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”-John 1:16-17

Why? Because you can tell them what it symbolizes, and there were plenty of my squad-mates who have tattoos now and will fully explain why they have each one, how it’s important to them because they represent important moments in their lives. That stirred something in me, so I asked God if that’s one way he wanted me to share His word (through tattoos), and He said yes! But, it came with four basic rules: 1) Each tattoo would have to mean something personal to me; basically, something that He has taught me at some point in my walk with Him. 2) I would have to pray about where to get them (it had to represent something as well) and once I got the answer, I would have to get that tattoo in that specific spot. 3) I would HAVE to share about them each time someone saw them and asked about it/complimented it, so it’s basically a physical reminder to share the Gospel. 4) There HAS to be a verse that coincides with it/reminds you of it so that you can memorize His word and hold it close, but also to share with others who may have never heard it before. The first tattoo that I got was based off of Proverbs 16:24 (above) and it is a bumblebee on top of some honeycomb; it’s on my left shoulder. Why? Well, the honeycomb is the main reason, but the bee made sense to add since bees are the ones who make honeycomb.

“The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.”-Psalm 19:9-10

Throughout my life, I didn’t hear a lot of kind words from some family, people I had called friends, my peers in general, teachers (on occasion; it was few and far between) and a few more; they’d call me names, exclude me from activities intentionally, treat me poorly, etc. Basically, kindness wasn’t something I heard a lot of times, and it only ever came from a couple people when I did experience kind words and actions. I’m still healing in some ways/circumstances, BUT I came to the conclusion, even before I had met Jesus and accepted Him into my life, that I was going to be kind to everyone because I never wanted anyone else to feel the same pain I felt when those people treated me wrongly. When they weren’t kind to me, I felt a lot of different types of pain (mostly emotional and mental) and I became very withdrawn and isolated myself quite frequently so that I could avoid them. All it did was make me build up walls that ended up guarding me in unhealthy ways (I wasn’t actively seeking out healthy friendships/I’d push people away, etc.), and I frequently lost hope that I would ever feel cared for and loved. I now know that God was there with me though because eventually, I came out of that isolation phase (as if it happened overnight) and ended up showing others extraordinary kindness.

 Once I realized what had happened (after I became a believer and could understand what He was doing and that it was Him alone who was causing healing to happen) I made it an apparent part of who I am: to always strive to be kind to everyone, even if it meant giving undeserved forgiveness and grace, so that people would see something different in me, that they wouldn’t feel the same isolating pain that I did. When I found Proverbs 16:24, I immediately memorized it (because it is a short verse and easy to memorize, but also because it reminded me of my transformation), and I used it as further motivation to always show kindness to everyone, especially on the days it becomes hard to do so. It also reminds me to always show grace to everyone, including myself, especially to the ones who don’t seem to deserve it. This verse inspires me to spare the guilty people and to bring those who seem to be out-casted into the rest of the fold, to make them feel like they are included (because they are; we are all God’s children and He loves us all equally). So, go into God’s grace and allow Him to guide you! Let your words drip with honey rather than malice; let your actions be clear and selfless instead of foggy and selfish. Amen!

“So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with mild and honey…”-Exodus 3:8