Tattooed Lady

I'm contemplating another tattoo.  I'm not ready for the one I'd love to get on my back someday, but I've been mulling over another one since shortly after my older daughter was born.  It would be a simple tattoo in a script style font that somehow references my desire to love.  If you read my blog you may remember I wrote about it here, here, & here (BTW - I'm still looking for all I mentioned in that one). On Memorial Day three years ago some friends and my family went to a graveyard to pay our respects.  While we were there I came across a headstone with the simple inscription, "She always loved."  It was profound to me.  It summed up all that God has called me to. 

"Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’"  

---Matt. 22:37-39

It is what I strive for and seek God's strength for.  It is who I want to be.  Because of all this it would be hugely meaningful to me.  The big challenge is that I'm struggling with the wording for it.  I don't know if I should use the wording from the headstone, shorten it to "always love," or go with something else entirely.  Ideas?  Input?

Comfort

What brings you comfort?  Not on a grand scale like the beautiful, all encompassing comfort we find in the reassurance God is there and cares deeply about all you are facing, but on a small scale.  I mean the little comforts that make such a difference.  For me it's watching my 3 month old blow bubbles or hearing my three year old tell me she loves me.  It's hearing, "Touch of Grey" by The Grateful Dead or the way my ancient Dr. Marten's cradle my feet (Peter is convinced they are beat up beyond wearing in public, but I'm not so sure).  It's laughing with friends who have known me long enough to have seen me at my worst and knowing they still love me.  It's remembering I'm a mom, but knowing that part of me is merging with all the other dynamics of who I am, not becoming my single defining role.  It's walking in the rain.  All of these things are filled with the beautiful promise of God's grace and a new day.  They are reminders of the joy we can find in such a broken place.