Here is a hard one to swallow..

God never asked us to be ‘successful’, just faithful. I ponder this as I sit here at the tattoo shop with no one coming in this week. Now in my rational mind, I know that this is a slow time of year for tattoos, and business will pick up in a month or so. I know that the people I have worked on are happy, and they came back for more work. So rationally, things are progressing at an expected and normal rate. However… part of me does wonder “what if no one else ever comes in? What if this ministry simply will not sustain itself? What if…..?” You get the picture, right?

The problem is that all those outcomes are possible. But as I look on these things, I run smack into a very difficult truth. God wanted me to be faithful. Faithful is a process of sorts, more than it is a product. It is growing of the fruit, not the actual fruit itself. Somehow that makes it all just a little harder for me. Why? Simple, it’s not easily measurable. Success is generally measurable by such questions as; Did you meet your intended goals? Did you check all the things off the to-do list? Are you operating in the black? These are all questions that are generally easy to answer, not much thought involved if you know what I mean. But what about the question; Are you faithful (and to what?).

God calls us to the process, and we tend to run headlong toward the product. People are funny that way, at least I sure am. So in a world where you are told at every turn to be successful, and by successful they mean buy our products, remember to listen for the call to faithfulness. It is a call to a lifestyle more than a comfort level. It’s a call to a verb more than a noun. It’s a call to a love affair, not just physical relations (keepin’ it G rated here).

So if you are thinking about a tattoo, stop buy! We seem to have time. And in the meantime, I will remember the real reason we are here, and try to not focus on the easy answers.

Till next time… Peace!

Pete