I am overwhelmed by the blessing of life

photo cred: Dominik Sartorius @doeeme

This morning, scrolling on my IG feed I find out a girl knew from back when in the early 2010’s black artsy scene had passed away. I didn’t KNOW know her, we were never friends but it was that thing when you see each other round they way, say hey, chat for a little bit and the go on your own way. She was a rapper, a great one. I put her on my favorite playlist because she and a friend recorded a song I loved. The song was about being surrounded with fake people afraid to be themselves and finding pride in being original. The song was on constantly replay summer 2023. In my mind, she was going to make it. She was so cool, smooth and talented there was no reason for me to think different. I’d comment how fire she was and figured because we kind of swam in similar scene one day I’d eventually bump into her again.

It’s crazy how people can just be gone.

I followed a lot of other people she was connected to and everyone’s stories has been mourning her and giving condolences. Again, I wasn’t close to her but knowing someone amongst your webbed network pass feels so weird.

It reminds me that life is ultimately a blessing. None of us have to be here. We are given the opportunity every morning to experience but it’s not something owed to us. There are people all around the world who was here yesterday that aren’t here today and by the grace of God our lives were spared and given another chance.

This is the way I felt seeing the number of mortalities climb up during the bombing of Palestine October 7th and onward. That was the day I learned truly about Palestine beyond it being something I heard about in passing. Seeing tragic long list of martyred names, it hit me then how blessed I was and how gracious I should be.

I was always a very spiritual “gratitude is everything” type of person but witnessing injustice and loss on that level created a new level of self discovery in me confronting mortality, God, love, purpose, community and the treasure of life.

It can be any of us at any time. That’s not to add any anxiety but to add a powerful tenderness and care to all your daily interactions and experiences.

I’m in a place right now that I am very moved, overwhelmed with the blessing of life. There’s no predicting it. Many times there’s no controlling it. It’s just for us stand there, understand and be humbled human beings. God is good. Life is good. It’s good not because things are perfect or even always going well but because there’s chance and everyday we are here we are given a chance. And the chance to live deep within the world, the opportunity to change, create and discover IS a miracle.

Rest in Peace Chelsea Reject.