Given Existence

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

—— John 12:24 (NIV)

What if we had never existed? The world would not notice. Time would pass, indifferent. And yet, here we are. Breathing. Occupying some space. Thinking. Feeling. Existing. Moving through the small routines that fill our days. Some things fade. Some remain.

We hold on quietly. We try to stay intact, to keep a thread of meaning. Some parts of us appear only when what we cling to falls away. When loss leaves a space empty, something new, or simply different, can emerge. Existence is not in what we preserve. It is in what is quietly released, leaving only the traces that cannot be held.

What we release creates the space for something else to take form, quietly, without asking for permission—just as space was once given for our own existence. At some point, we must accept that everything, including ourselves, must be let go.

It is not about being “released”—discarded, forgotten, or even remembered and missed. None of it matters. What matters is letting the emptiness we leave behind be filled with seeds that bear fruit, not weeds. Kindness is not a choice. It is simply what we owe one another—nothing to boast of, nothing to be proud of. It should give nothing in return. Existence was given.