I get all sappy when I hear a good love song.

Music has been the soundtrack of my life for as long as I can remember. It can take my mind and emotions back to the time I first heard them.

Songs from nursery school brought imaginations alive as we tipped over singing “ I’m A Little Teapot” or walked our hands up as an “Itsy Bitsy Spider”.

The Carpenter’s blasted from my red transistor radio as it hung off my wrist.

“I’m On the Top of the World” played as I developed a crush on the new boy who moved in to the new housing tract across from school.

Anne Murray crooned “You Needed Me” in a friend’s pickup and The Bee Gees belted out “Tragedy” as we sped down the 91 Freeway in another’s Trans Am.

As a newly minted adult, concerts of both “oldies” and current artists filled weekends.

Friends piled in each other’s cars to sway and scream to Rick Springfield, Neil Diamond and Elton John.

Then there were the relationships where we declared “our song” which became a tune of lament long after the breakup.

Of course there are those ballads that are all about longing for what can never be again.

I still smile when I hear the processional played at our wedding or the song we danced to when a season of our marriage had been rough on both of us.

It was a starting over point and said so much more than I could say myself.

Growing up in church meant that there is a myriad of hymns and choruses woven through my soul.

Tunes that today are either mocked or cherished.

They marked movement of time and drawing of hearts to the One we found ourselves singing about.

“Hymns are usually about God whereas Praise and Worship is sung to Him,” my mom mentioned to me one day. I see them as love songs too.

Singing a love song to my Creator, belting out worship to my Savior settles my heart.

It helps me focus on Him and the beauty He brings to my life.

It’s a reminder of His love for me.

Lately, it’s also reminded me to love others. Not just those who are easy to love, but more importantly those who need to be loved.

We need to write ourselves new love songs.

Sharing the harmonies of life and the melodies of strength to each other.

Idelette McVicker, the founder of She Loves Magazine wrote a manifesto called “Let Us Be Women Who Love.”

In it she proclaims, “Let us be women who take courage and sing the song in our hearts,” and “Let us be women who call out the song in another’s heart.”

She follows up with “Let us be women who teach our children to do the same.” Ending the refrain with: “Let us be women who Love.”

We all have songs in our minds and hearts.

Some are just for fun and others holds deep, spiritual meanings.

Some of us need to return to the anthems of old.

We need to be reminded of the love we have to share.

This morning I woke up feeling as if there are those who need to write a new song.

We need to catch the new days in front of us to heal us from a broken past.

May the beat move with our hearts to speak love and courage and life as the road ahead seems rough.

Let your verses rise across all generations not only to let your heart be heard but to let your own heart sing.