Ace gospel musician Bernice Offei entered the world carrying multiple talents, including two enduring gifts with which she blessed humanity—a flair for songwriting and a strong vocal delivery that made her sing like a nightingale.
With passion and a deep sense of devotion to the Lord she loved, Bernice used her musical gift to proclaim the gospel message and bless music lovers globally.
Therefore, the news of her sudden death has hit us hard, knowing who she was in the gospel music space and the indelible mark she made on all who knew her and enjoyed her songs.
The Ghanaian music fraternity mourns and collectively extends our deepest condolences to her family.
At the same time, we honour her for using her musical talent to proclaim the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now that she is no more, Bernice Offei has left the world a profound legacy of hit songs that will outlast her fans and admirers.
But while her writing hand lies still, her nightingale voice continues to sing for mankind.
Experience
Many musicians draw the lyrics of their songs from experience; so did Bernice Offei for her hit song Life is Short.
When she released that track in 2009, Step magazine featured her on our front page and allowed her to narrate the story behind that song and the vision of her melodious singing.
Bernice Offei and her siblings were still children, she recalled, when they found it amusing to watch their parents trying to read without their eyeglasses.
The incident seemed so humorous that they had a good laugh and made fun of their parents, not realising that reading glasses were associated with old age.
Soon, however, the years rolled by and Bernice needed eyeglasses for reading. Surprisingly, her own children made fun of her for needing to read with the help of spectacles.
That was when the fleeting nature of life on earth dawned on Bernice. “Life, indeed, is short,” she realised, “and we don’t have all the time here on Earth.”
It seemed like only yesterday that she and her siblings had wondered why their parents needed eyeglasses to read. Where had the years gone? And what had happened to the moments?
“So you see, my brother,” she wrote and sang, “life is so short and it passes quickly.”
Life is short
Recalling this incident at this fragile moment when she is no more gives this particular song greater significance. Her death came so suddenly that even at age 63, life is still very short.
Note how the very first stanza of that hit song depicts the reality of life’s brevity—
“It was but yesterday, you were a baby / But so soon you're growing too / And before you know it you've become a lady / Or a man with children too . . . /
“Then your health and strength begin to fail you / And you say ‘Now, what shall I do?’ / Because the days and years you may have wasted / May be memories haunting you.
“So you see, my brother, that life is so short / It passes by so quickly and soon it's gone / You just have one life to live on earth . . .”
If life is so short, so what? You may wish to ask. And Bernice Offei offers the awe-inspiring response: “So remember your Creator while you have breath.”
Remember!
It was King Solomon who, towards the end of his life, declared, “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth before the evil days come” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).
Evil days include ill-health, disasters of all kinds and the physical and mental decline of old age that eventually results in death.
Human beings are bundles of weaknesses and flaws.
The end of life is often preceded by terrible periods of infirmity and frailty.
Bernice Offei’s song Life is Short mentions how useless it is to allow the quest for fame, wealth and power to turn us away from God.
“What does it profit a person,” the Lord Jesus asked, “if they gain the whole world and forfeit their soul?”
Unfortunately, some people go through life completely forgetting that life is short indeed.
They rubbish this reality until, suddenly, evil descends on them.
This gospel song, sung with passion and conviction by Bernice Offei, is a fitting warning to mankind.
Reminding us of the reality of life makes Bernice Offei’s song so timely.
Given that we often forget the most important things in life, Bernice must have left us with something to think about.
Next week: The good Lord willing, we will continue to celebrate the life of authentic gospel musician Bernice Offei, bringing to the fore the lyrics of some of her hit songs that endeared her to music lovers in this country and beyond.
The writer is a publisher, author, writer-trainer and CEO of Step Publishers. E-mail:
