I don’t know Chance the Rapper. I don’t follow the contemporary music scene very closely…or at all. I did read an article about the 2017 BET Awards on NPR.org. Chance was given a humanitarian award at the event on June 25th. Here is an excerpt from the article by Rodney Carmichael.
After being lauded by fellow Chicagoan and former First Lady Michelle Obama, Chance gave an inspiring, impromptu speech in which he challenged both the politicians in his hometown and himself to do better serving people locally and globally.
“I was gonna say, it feels a little early to get something like this, but my God doesn’t make mistakes, and I like to think that he’s putting this enormous pressure on me to see how I react. And I had plans originally to try and tell the world and everybody watching how to make it a better place,” he said, running down a litany of issues, from the continued criminalization of marijuana in communities of color to the public school funding crisis in Chicago, before focusing on the man in the mirror. “But my big homie Reese told me we gotta work on ourselves before we can work on the world. So I wanna be a better father. I wanna be a better father to [my daughter] Kensli; I want to spend more time with her … I want to be more involved outside just my community of Chicago. I want to travel overseas and help out people all over the world. And like I said, being 24 and getting something like this, it doesn’t feel deserved yet. But like I said, my God is putting the pressure on me so I can become who I’m supposed to be. ” Read here.
So there you have it…from a 24 year old. The wisdom for the rest of your life. Focus on the man in the mirror first and then don’t complain about the way things are…get out there and do something for someone else. Oh and by the way, pause so you can hear God…hear where Life Itself is leading you. Pay attention from the inside…so that you become all you came here to be.
Much love
Paula
Check out my Sunday message on Facebook at Spiritual Soul Center using the quote from above “we gotta work on ourselves before we can work on the world.“
