Life Art
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
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I was talking to one of our students Dez today - she's thinking about having scarification done to her arms to hide the cutting from a few years ago.My thoughts are if I turn them into something pretty but don't cover them up fully, it would work. I don't want to hide my past, but at the same time I really don't like being put on display at any given moment. If it's up to me and I feel like talking about it, sure, I don't care. But seriously, people asking me about it when I'm in line at the grocery store at 1 in the morning buying cold medicine cuz I've been sick....not really the best timing ya know. Now on that note, check out my scars and tell me what ya'll think.I told her the scars on her arms are what I've dubbed "life art" - tangible representations of our journey through life. I told her that changing that would mess up the beautiful picture that God is showing through her scars.
Seems like scars are important to Jesus - since he'll still have his in Heaven. What do you think? I told her I was going to blog about them, and that I would recommend people share their thoughts with the both of us. Please do - give us some other perspectives ...
JG
posted by Unknown @ 2:38 PM |
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7 Comments:
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At 10/23/2007,
Allison said...
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I love the idea of these being an instant open-door to sharing the story of what God's done.
What if you, Des, had your arms tattooed? Maybe really significant pictures of what your life lookd like before and what it looks like now?
I'll keep thinking...this was just my first reaction. -
At 10/23/2007,
samwise said...
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i think you're brillant. i didn't think to call it life art...but that's a great term. i recently spent some time on a spiritual retreat inside a juvenile justice facility. one of the boys was covered in gang tattoos and he had the same sense of "shame" and wished they could be removed. my encouragement was to embrace what they represented in his journey to faith and more importantly what God was doing with his brokenness. out of his pain comes healing to others to know of the Hope. cool stuff. life art...great stuff.
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At 10/24/2007,
Mike Lewis said...
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I think that those scars are a testimony about Jesus' love and power. I would keep them as a witness to others.
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At 10/24/2007,
Nick said...
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After reading her blog about how frustrating it is to deal with the people that want to "lecture and warn" her, I would definitely encourage her to keep the scars versus turning them into something else. As people talk to her about her scars it is an automatic open door to share the life transformation that Jesus has done in her life, not to mention that she will most likely face the same amount of frustrations with people's opinion about scarification if she went that route, so why not allow Jesus to shine through that frustration. I think the scars will make her story even more powerful because people can see where she came from.
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At 10/24/2007,
Chris Day said...
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I say definitely keep them. Scars are great discussion starters...
Here's my thing about calling them "life art" and this is just a question...but are we telling students that it's "cool" to cut and self-mutilate becuase then they too can have cool "life art."
I love the idea and it's just a question and can definitely see how you came up with it. Her past should be celebrated because she has found freedom through Christ. Powerful stuff man. -
At 10/24/2007,
Allison Murray said...
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I said this earlier in the office...
but my vote is leave them as they are. They are the story of your life. If you changed the shape of the nail holes in Jesus' hands and feet to be stars instead of round, nail holes...the story would be different...the scars would be different. Your scars speak to the work God's done in your life they speak to where you've been.
And the scars as they are now make me want to know about them...if the scars were in the shape of stars i would just think you were decorating your body...i wouldn't be quite as interested in hearing the story behind them.
just my vote. -
At 10/26/2007,
Kenn said...
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I have my own life art and I am thankful that I can talk to students and show them that in some way, I have been where they are and then demonstrate to them what Christ can do in their lives as well.It may be a stretch, but I love this passage...
From now on, don’t let anyone trouble me with these things. For I bear on my body the scars that show I belong to Jesus.
Galatians 6:17 (NLT)
Dez I am sorry for the pain you experienced but what encouraged me is that God works all things that happens in our lives to glorify him. That is awesome! I say keep them, but the decesion is all yours, keep seeking God and consider your ministry.
Kenn
