Only Love

Heaven sent a gift from above,

L-O-V-E, love.

love, love, love.

Only love will bridge the gap in our minds.

Only love will break us out of confines.

Love, love,

Only love,

Love, love, love.

What the world needs now is love,

Sweet love.

Only love will change the tides,

Dry our tear stained eyes.

Only love will end our fears

Help us through the trying years.

Only love,

Only love,

Only love and trust

Will build the bond between us.

Heaven sent a gift from above.

L-O-V-E, love.

Love, love, love.

Only love.

If love is to abound

The walls between us must fall

Love will break down the walls

And unite us all

From the earth to the sky

The flag of love must fly

Heaven sent a gift from above

L-O-V-E, love.

What the world needs now is love,

Sweet love.

Love, only love,

Love, love, love,

Only love. 

copyright Patricia Newman-Harris

With excerpt in italics from the What the World Needs Now Is Love

by Burt Bachrach and Hal David

 

America's Challenge

My fellow Americans,

Everyday, life offers us a choice.

We make that choice through our voice.

What we say and what we do, really does matter.

We can use our voice to encourage,

Or, we can use it to discourage.

We can use it to give or

We can use it to take.

We can use it to bring love

Or, we can use it to bring hate.

That is our challenge.

We can exercise our choice,

Or we can still our voice.

We can insure that the things that matter

Continue to matter.

We can assure we achieve

the things we want as a nation. 

Or we can give up

on what we've worked so hard to achieve.

That is our challenge.

What we are seeing now is a battle to

bend the arc of justice in the opposite direction.

But hate must not prevail.

We can use our voice to encourage,

Or, we can use it to discourage.

We can use it to give,

Or,

We can use it to take.

We can use it to bring love,

Or, we can use it to bring hate.

That is our challenge.

Note: 

To those of us who are in the battle to stay,

Saddle up cause it's going to be a rough ride.

I pray you will determine that you are in the battle for the long haul.

Then lets sit high atop the horse of hate and ride!

Be Encouraged!

Every morning, I listen to a program aired on KJLJ radio, 102.3, hosted by Dominique DiPrima.  Before I started listening to that show, I was pretty pessimistic about the fight against racism in our nation.  This morning, she reminded her listeners of a quote by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  I'd like to share that quote with you, but especially with those, who like me, have become discouraged in the fight.  I know times seem dark to us all in light of the things that have been going on throughout the nation.  It is so easy to focus on the bad, but now is the time when we should focus on the good.  It is also a time to remember that, as Martin Luther King, said,

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

It does not mean that we won't have to work to help bend the arc.  It takes all of us doing whatever we can; however, we can do what we can to assure that we achieve what we want in this world.  When you forget how far we have come as a nation, remember to remember.  Hang onto the words of some of the best and be encouraged!

If you'd like to listen to the show I mentioned above, it airs every weekday morning
from 4:30 am. to 6 a.m.  The station is owned by Stevie Wonder, and there is an app available or you can listen online via internet at kjlhradio.com.