I just can’t stop thinking about mark. Or, more accurately, a mark.
It started while listening to my iPod on my flight to Las Vegas. The band U2 was blasting the song “Magnificent” in my ears while Bono sang “Only love, only love can leave such a mark.” My schizophrenic mind then pulled up other files in my brain relating to the word “mark”. Ever since Chris Farley uttered the words in the movie “Tommy Boy”, I haven’t been able to bump or cut a body part without declaring, “now that’s gonna leave a mark!” (If you have never seen that scene, stop what you are reading and go directly to Youtube and check it out before continuing).
After I went down that rabbit trail I remembered a client of mine who owns a tattoo parlor. His name is Mark and his email is “permanentmark”. Get it? Permanent Mark? (I know, I am easily impressed). If I ever get a tattoo I am going to him based on that name alone. So, even though I want to take a nap on this flight, I just have to talk about marks for a few.
Unless we get a tattoo, or are married to Mark, most marks are not permanent. They may seem so at times, but usually there are ways to remove, remedy or repurpose them. All of us have had defining moments, marking moments, in our lives–events that threaten to stick with us forever. They damage in ways that feel pretty permanent. And left untreated, they indeed are.
But, my friend, you have a Redeemer–One who wants to remove, remedy or repurpose those marks. One who wants to leave you with a different kind of mark. I love how Bono says “only love can leave such a mark-only love can heal such a scar.” God is that love.
Sometimes we falsely believe that people are that love, but the humanness of those people can cause that healing to be quite temporary. God’s love is a permanent mark, leaving a scar as a reminder of where we once were when we were damaged. A mark that reminds us to trust in Him to be a salve for the wounds that we thought would ugly-us-up indefinitely.
Pure, unadulterated, healing love is a permanent gift from God. And ya, “that’s gonna leave a mark.”
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