This seems like such a trivial thing to write about, but I get a lot of questions about it so I figured I’d answer it for everyone here.

Since the beginning of the year I’ve worn three gold necklaces every day, varying in under vs over-the-shirt combinations. I very rarely leave the house without all of them on. And sometimes I wear every single chain even when I’m in the house cuz we….lol (I know you finished the line) Why you might ask?

(I’m about to hit my classic tangential explanation so buckle up)

As anyone who knows my life story could tell you, my life has been emotionally and mentally taxing since 1st grade. Adding insult to injury, the few times that I’ve thought I would finally walk into the promise land of a good season of life, I’ve been hit with the exact opposite. This year has been no exception.

I’m not really into the whole “New Year, New Me” thing (because I don’t believe in waiting for a calendar date to make changes and better yourself, but that’s for another blog post) but I was really excited for 2018. I even said on multiple occasions that it felt like my whole life had been building up to this year. This would be the year I would finally get to work really hard at writing a story in the form of an EP trilogy and play live shows with a full band. 2018 was going to be my music make-or-break year.

But let me tell ya…when things seem like they are looking up…things go down in hurry. I can’t really go into how they went down in a hurry, but those who need to know, know that life has been throwing haymakers my way since mid-January. And those haymakers threw off my whole “golden” year’s plans…2 freaking weeks in! 2 weeks in, y’all!

Why the whole backstory? Because that’s when I started wearing all 3 chains when I left the house as my mobile Ebenezer stones. (An Ebenezer stone is a stone that the Isrealites would build every time God showed up in a big way for them so they would have a visible reminder of His goodness in times of suffering…or simply because, as humans who like to be our own god, we easily forget.) And I’m a big fan of symbolism (…and simply overthinking everything), so each one has had a specific meaning. Every day, they remind me of the truths they represent because metal gets cold and you will be reminded of that periodically throughout the day.

I’ll start off with everyone’s favorite: the lion. I get the most compliments about this one. When I was deciding which pendants to get for my necklaces, I wanted them to be more than just chains of vanity. One had to be a reminder of Jesus, but cross pendants mean nothing at this point and are so cliché. I hate clichés like the plague (unless they’re involved in a solid dad joke. Only lames and Nazis hate a good dad joke.) (hit my political word quota for this post lol). So how does one represent Jesus on a necklace in the least cliché way possible? C.S. Lewis’s imagination, of course! Yes, the lion represents Aslan not Gryffindor (Ravenclaw for life). The pendant is rather large, thus when cold, serves as a great reminder that Jesus has my back and is always with me (at least through the Holy Spirit. Let’s not get into in depth theology over a gold necklace). In summary, lion = Aslan = cliché cross alternative.

The second chain has a pendant with what looks like a large medieval goblet embossed between the inscription “Fountain of Youth”. It is a reminder to have childlike faith; to trust that God’s plan is better than my plan (and not in a prosperity gospel way like believing in God will guarantee you earthly blessings, but that as the Creator of the universe, He knows that He is what is best for us because He created us and therefore everything He has planned for us is meant to draw us to Him and be for our good). Children, in a lot of ways, are free from the jadedness that comes from growing up in a world that is not as it is meant to be (or at least they should be). They are free from the understanding that all people, even their parents will fail them in some way or another. They still have their innocent curiosity of the world.

The last chain is a golden necklace that my stepmom bought for me and my brothers for Christmas. We all wear it every day and for me, it is a reminder that all three of us have each other’s backs. It’s also a reminder of the importance of community. The reminder that we are not meant to walk and endure alone. Most people who know me know that Ryan, the middle child in the family, is easily my favorite person in the world and my best friend in the world. I talk to him almost every day (even though he hates talking on the phone lol). He has had my back and been with me through thick and thin as long as we can both remember. He’s a true day 1! I’m also blessed to have some really close friends that might as well be brothers too. And because of that, I get to wear this necklace as a reminder of the awesome group of people who are there to stand beside me and walk with me through the good and bad seasons.

So yea, as I try to make it through this frustratingly prolonged season of stress, I get to wear these three necklaces; and with them I am reminded that despite all circumstances and no matter what, at the core and root of my life all is well. As Kung-Fu Kenny would say, “Alls my life I had to fight…but if God got us, then we gon’ be alright!”