New Beginnings

Today, I turn 36 years old.

As I look back over my first 36 years of life, I realize just how blessed I am. I’ve accomplished so much in these years, and if I’m lucky, I’ll get another 36.

Another 36 years -- wow.

To some, that may not seem like a lot of time or even enough time. But what is real is that our lives are just a whisper; a small quiet breath that is there for an instant and then, as quickly as it began, it disappears into a sea of time.

So what will I do with this next 36 years?

Who will I be?

What will become of me?

I’m not quite sure.

But, I do know this; life is too short, too fragile to be filled with necessity. 

I do the work that I do not because I love it, but because my very existence and our humanity depend on it. Necessity.

But what do I love?

Who do I love?

What do I want to be next?

These are all questions that I get to ask myself and answers that I get to discover.

Most of my life I’ve been on a search for freedom, the ability to be totally and unapologetically me. And at 36 years old, I think I’ve found it! I thought, like the children of Israel, that this place called freedom was just that -- a place with GPS coordinates where everyone is full and no one is in lack. But I've found this ever allusive “freedom” not in a physical space, but in a personal revelation, an epiphany, that after 36 years of life, I can wake up and exclaim to the world,

"I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT! I CAN BE WHATEVER I WANT!"

And that, my friends, is a privilege few are given, fewer achieve, and even fewer still realize.

So here I am - Born again. New. And if I’m lucky, I’ll get 36 more years to continue living in this beautiful freedom.

Y’all ready for the journey? Because I’m gonna make my whisper LOUD AF!!!...in Jesus Name :-)