When I Stopped Seeing Tattoos
I’ve been thinking about how easy it is to judge what we see.
If we’re honest, most of us do it every day.
We notice someone’s appearance.
Their tattoos.
Their piercings.
The way they dress.
The way they speak.
The labels attached to them.
And before we know anything about their heart…
We’ve already formed an opinion.
I know because this has been part of my own journey too.
In 2009, I sensed God speaking something simple to my heart:
“Love Me and love others.”
Those five words changed everything.
They became more than a message.
They became a way of life.
One of the verses I held onto was:
“People look at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.”
And over the years, one simple prayer kept rising from within me:
“God, help me see people the way You see them.”
Not their labels.
Not their appearance.
Not their politics.
Not their lifestyle.
Not the things that make them different from me.
Help me see their heart.
What I didn’t realize was that in order to answer that prayer…
God would first need to transform my own heart.
Because judgment doesn’t begin with other people.
It begins within us.
The more I surrendered…
The more healing took place.
The more healing took place…
The more love began to flow.
And the more love began to flow…
The less focused I became on outward appearances…
And the more interested I became in people’s stories.
Then something happened that showed me just how much God had been changing me.
Last year, during a Be Love Give Love gathering, a man experiencing homelessness asked if he could help us clean up afterward.
I said yes.
He showed up.
He worked hard.
We talked.
I learned a little of his story.
Afterward, we took a picture together.
Later, I was sharing the story with someone and showed them the photo.
The very first thing they noticed were the tattoos on his face.
I remember looking back at the picture, completely surprised.
Not because the tattoos weren’t there.
But because I hadn’t seen them.
Not while talking with him.
Not while working beside him.
Not while taking the picture.
Not even afterward.
I genuinely hadn’t noticed them.
And in that moment…
I felt overwhelming gratitude.
Because I realized God had answered my prayer.
Somewhere along the journey…
He had changed the way I see people.
What once might have captured my attention first…
Didn’t even register.
All I saw…
Was a person.
A heart.
A story.
Someone made in the image of God.
That moment wasn’t the transformation.
It was simply a glimpse of the transformation that had already taken place.
And what freedom there is on the other side of that.
When judgment no longer rises up first.
When curiosity comes before criticism.
Compassion comes before assumptions.
Love comes before division.
Sometimes the deepest transformation isn’t found in changing how we see the world.
Sometimes it’s found in discovering that, little by little…
God has changed the way we see one another.
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Part of the Breadcrumbs collection by Abby Lewis—true stories that leave room for God to speak.