Today's thought from Hazelden is:

Love is a great beautifier.
--Louisa May Alcott

How do we feel when someone says, "I love you"? Do we feel a rush of warmth throughout our bodies? Do we walk a little taller? Do smiles come more easily to our lips? Words of love are inspirational. They bring out the best in us; perhaps they even encourage us to move in new directions, set new goals, attempt the unfamiliar.

Loving and being loved soften the hard edges of life. No stormy day is really bleak when we share it with a loving friend. No formidable challenge is too overwhelming when a loved one is nudging us forward, certain of our capacity to succeed. And the mirror reflects brighter eyes and fewer lines when we carry the knowledge that we're loved.

Let's share this knowledge with someone else now, and spread the beauty around us.
From: Worthy of Love by Karen Casey


Love Heals

From the Broadway musical Rent

Life, a breath of midnight air
Like a lighthouse
Like a prayer
Like a flicker and the flare the sky reveals
Like a walk along the shore
That you’ve walked a thousand times before
Like the ocean’s roar
Love heals

There are those who shield their hearts
Those who quit before they start
Who’ve frozen up the part of them that feels
In the dark they’ve lost their sight
Like a ship without a star in the night
But hold on tight

Love heals
When you feel you can’t go on
Love heals
Hold on to love
It’ll keep you strong
Love heals
When you feel like you can’t go on
Love heals
Hold on to love
And it will bring you home

Love heals when pain’s too much to bear
When you reach out your hand
And only the wind is there
When life’s unfair
When things like us are not to be
Love heals when you feel so small
Like a grain of sand
Like nothing at all
When you look at sea
That’s where love will be
That’s where you’ll find me
You’ll find me

So if you fear the storm ahead
As you lie awake in bed
And there’s no one, no one to stroke your head
And your mind reels, your mind
Your mind reels
If your face is salty wet
And you’re drowning in regret
Just
Don’t forget
Don’t forget
Don’t forget
Don’t forget
It’s all right
Love heals


Love Can Build a Bridge

As sung by the Judds

I’d gladly walk across the desert
With no shoes upon my feet
To share with you the last bite
Of bread I had to eat
I would swim out to save you
In your sea of broken dreams
When all your hopes are sinkin’
Let me show you what love means

Chorus:
Love can build a bridge
Between your heart and mine
Love can build a bridge
Don’t you think its time?
Don’t you think its time?

I would whisper love so loudly
Every heart could understand
That love and only love
Can join the tribes of man
I would give my hearts desire
So that you might see
The first step is to realize
That it all begins with you and me

Chorus

When we stand together
Its our finest hour
We can do anything, anything
Keep believin’ in the power

Chorus

Love and only love
Love and only love