Why this tattoo?

I got a tattoo about a month ago.

I probably don't seem like the kind of girl who would even get a tattoo. The funny thing is that I've been voicing my desire for one, but no one really took me seriously until I showed them the newly scarred Agape tattoo on my ankle. I used to want a horseshoe in between my shoulder blades as a reminder of my past experience with horses, but now I think that was a really stupid thought. My tattoo is the word Agape in it's original language, Greek. This is what it looks like: αγάπη

I just wanted to share a little bit about why I got it and what I think about the meaning of Agape. First of all, people usually carry around an idea for a tattoo in their heads for a very long time. I got the idea about 2 weeks before I got the tattoo, and people might say that's a pretty rash decision. I heard it first from my youth paster a while ago because he's big on the Greek meanings of words in the Bible and he'd mentioned it in a message before. I'm not sure where I heard it before the idea got stuck in my head, but I looked it up and the definition told me all I needed to know.

"The Greek word agape is often translated "love" in the New Testament. How is "agape love" different from other types of love? The essence of agape love is self-sacrifice. Unlike our English word “love,” agape is not used in the Bible to refer to romantic or sexual love. Nor does it refer to close friendship or brotherly love, for which the Greek word 'philia' is used. Nor does agape mean charity, a term which the King James translators carried over from the Latin. Agape love is unique and is distinguished by its nature and character. Agape is love which is of and from God, whose very nature is love itself."

There you have it. Agape love is perfect, self-sacrificing, unconditional love that only God can have for mankind. It is perfect, and it is God if you think about it. God is love. This just struck me as completely amazing and mind-boggling, and that's when the idea for a tattoo implanted itself into my brain.

I have two reasons for having the word "Agape" permanently etched into my ankle. First, I'm a Christian, and having the perfect love of God on me sounded like a pretty good thing. :) The second reason is that I am unsure of the future, just like everyone else on the planet. I am still growing in my relationship with God, and right now all I want to do is learn more and grow more. I'm so afraid that something will sidetrack me or deceive me and when I'm older I won't have the same open mind that I have right now. Things will change, but I don't ever want to lose sight of what is absolutely most important, what should be literally everything in my life, and that is God. I can't be sure of a lot of things, but I can be sure that in 10, 20, 40 years from now I will have this tattoo of God's perfect, self-sacrificing love, and that will have to mean something for the rest of my life. It's like keeping a verse on a piece of paper next to your mirror as a reminder to you every day. I don't, and won't ever regret getting it, because it has a meaning that in my opinion no other word can hold a candle to. Just as God's love is permanently bestowed on me, my tattoo will be with me for my entire earthly life.