(A little note I wrote the day after Kobe passed)

One of my earliest blog posts was this one
As someone with 0 athletic ability or interest,
I barely knew Kobe Bryant but,
I loved this article on him & saved it on the blog
His loss yesterday hit me hard,
As a parent but also as another human being.
Since then, I’ve tried to understand God’s angle.
Why? What have they done? How? Why?!
As I walked Kaito to school, mulling this,
This story strangely came to mind.
We had just lost my 4th sister in an accident.
And one of my other younger sisters,
Seemed unable to process our new reality.
She kept looking at me in this heartbreaking way,
I was lost and confused too,
And all that came to mind was this analogy:
“People are like library books.
You might keep them for ages, read and reread,
Use them as decor, props under coffee cups,
They can become one with your home.
But they are not yours.
The library owner always owns them.
Even when they’re in your possession.”
I remembered that this morning as I walked.
We own nothing in this life.
We don’t know which day we will leave undone,
Plates unwashed, places unseen, people unmet.
Goodbyes unsaid.
“Life is brief & death is certain.”-Eccl 7:1
It occurred to me that,
Perhaps God has no angle.
Maybe that is the angle!
The reminder that,
Life is what it is. One day, I will also go.
Ready or not. Hopefully more ready than not.
Some will go today. Others later this week.
The shock and sorrow of this reminds me
That we are & own nothing.
That there is nothing in this life,
This living that we fight, we work so hard for,
That can be quenched in a moment?
With a single thoughtless act,
A tiny misstep, a little mistake,a small distraction
That times & seasons are not in our hands.
That all we can do, is do our best with this life
And stay ready for the sickle-wielding angel.
My heart breaks for those left behind.