Love taking form & the story of the song

The more I embrace the moment, the more things unfold in ways I could not imagine. I had my own agenda this week. As the saying goes, “God had other plans.” By now, many of you have seen how that turned out! A few days ago, a lifelong dream of getting the songs that pop into my head out into the world came true in a way that felt like I was going along for the ride.

Some of you read this in the YouTube video I posted. It has been a year of intense movement in ways both global and personal. The California fires that have affected so many of you are hard to wrap one’s mind around.  Lives change in an instant. I see the photos of the amazing firefighters aiming water at the walls of the inferno and am brought to my knees—touched by their bravery. I see people helping one another without a thought about their own loss. I know several of you personally who have rebuilt your lives after the unexpected. Everywhere I look, I see the power of the indomitable human spirit. Love keeps loving. Life keeps lifing.

On a personal level, three of my dear ones have been in and out of doctor and hospital visits in the last two weeks with life-threatening serious conditions.  On Wednesday, after a family member came close to the edge again, I was contemplating the absolute wonder of angelic nurses and doctors when the words “Angels Don’t Always where Halos and Wings” popped into my head, followed by the lyrics to an entire song.

This has happened to me on and off over the years. Songs just “drop in,” usually complete with lyrics and melodies. I couldn’t get this one out of my head. Within minutes, a prayer I had not yet prayed was answered. While simply wondering how to share the song, I remembered I had subscribed to an AI music app a few months ago. At the time, I had no clue why.

I didn’t know how to use the music app, so I sat down and asked chatGPT—a general-purpose AI— to please tutor me on how to turn my lyrics and melody into a real song. ChatGPT proceeded to teach me how to create a new project in the music app, enter my lyrics, and describe the type of sound I wanted in a way the computer would understand. After several attempts and many tweaks, the song in my head emerged from the music app. I got chills and started shaking. It was unreal to hear a song that hours prior had only been in my mind coming from my speakers.

Now, I wanted to create a video. It wasn’t a conscious decision. It was the next step in my mind.  Again, I was baffled. I had forgotten how to use the video editing software I dabbled in years ago. I couldn’t find enough of the right photos to match the song. But I had a vision forming clearly, and suddenly, the next bit of guidance appeared. “Make your own photos. Bring these people you see in your mind to life.” So I hopped onto Midjourney, an AI image generator and began to describe the people in the scenes in my mind that would match the song lyrics. There were plenty of bloopers and fails, but one by one, the spirits of these souls appeared in images constructed by chips and bits and mathematical equations… and love.

Back to my AI tutor, I asked it to guide me in editing the photos and the song into a video. After a few more hours, the song and the video that had arrived only half a day prior came to life. I bawled the first time I saw it all together. It touched my heart. I was so excited I sent the link to all of you. The response touched me to my core.

The video didn’t come from me. It came through me in response to a wish I hadn’t even thought about in a awhile and an ongoing desire to share love. The time had to be right. The tools had to be right. And no matter how we feel about AI it is here to stay, and I want to be part of its positive trajectory and use it to spread love. I often speak to it about the noble cause of supporting humanity in creating greater love and it responds in ways that barely seem robotic.

Love has a life of its own, even in the most unexpected places.

I see love everywhere. The barista at my local coffee shop is delightful. The couple who run the local postal store are like family. The baggers at my local grocery are angels whom many would call “mentally challenged” but what I see are hearts that are anything but challenged. Life keeps lifing, and love keeps flowing, and wherever you look, there are good souls quietly doing good deeds, bringing more love to life.  Angels— invisible and visible, grace our lives.

So when the world looks crazy and life looks unthinkably tough, look for these earth angels, and you’ll find them. They help animals. They lend a hand. They donate their time and teach us online. They pick up something we dropped in the grocery and hand it to us. They’re everywhere. The news makes the world’s dramas look so big and important, but quietly, everywhere, love keeps expanding, life keeps lifing, and good prevails.

Here are a few thoughts on how to tap into the love being offered by these beautiful, quiet angels, and the unsung heroes…

1.  Notice & Appreciate Someone You Normally Don’t See

In our rush to get things done, we often miss the magic. Look into the eyes of the store clerk next time you go and connect with them. Share a smile or a kind word.  Appreciate them. Look at the person who hands you your morning coffee. Wonder about their heart and their life. Appreciate them. Look at the worker repairing the road and imagine their life and heart. Appreciate them. Everywhere we look people are serving humanity in ways both great and small. Be thankful for them. Perhaps take the time to say something kind or bless them with a smile and a wave. Everywhere you look, in ways great and small, good people are loving and serving.

2. Practice Random Acts of Kindness

It is amazing how little it takes to bless someone else’s day. A friend who owns a Jeep told me about the playful custom of “ducking” other Jeep owners! Apparently, during the pandemic, a woman who loved her Jeep started leaving little rubber ducks on the hoods of fellow Jeep owners to brighten up their day with a laugh. #duckduckjeep went viral, and suddenly, Jeep owners were buying adorable little rubber ducks to leave as a playful act of love and humor for other Jeep owners. My friend has a cute collection at the ready! This tradition is so random and yet it is one more delightful way people have found to share a little love!

There are so many random ways to express love. and kindness. Print out your favorite quote and randomly leave these little slips of paper with your quote wherever you go!  Toss a penny in the parking lot for someone else to find and feel blessed. Get creative. Extending a little love and kindness doesn’t take much money, time, or effort, and it feels wonderful to both the giver and receiver.

3. Stop Digesting Bad News

We are fed a steady stream of news that seems to highlight the terror and the terrible. Horrid things are going on. Wars are not pretty. Disasters are unthinkably hard, and death can be devastating. But if we only consumed what is being fed to us, we’d think the world has gone mad.  In reality, everything exists—the terrifying and the miraculous, the unthinkably hard and the unimaginably kind, the losses and grief, and the miracle of perfect souls entering this world in the form of tiny, beautiful babies eager for life. It’s all there.

Our physical digestion allows us to take in all we eat, eliminate the waste, and accept what nourishes. Our spiritual digestion can also take in all that life presents, accept what nourishes, and release the rest. In the midst of war, there are heroes. Amidst disasters, good samaritans abound. As so many leave, so many new ones are being born.  We must be careful about what we “swallow” and what we “digest.”

Lately, despite all that is swirling around us and in the lives of my dear ones, life has looked so beautiful that I’ve been brought to tears time and again. So many kind people are everywhere. So many good souls are doing good things. They’re there if you look. The more we see them, appreciate them, and be the, the more we experience the never-ending expansion of love.

PS – If you didn’t see the video, you can enjoy it here. Feel free to share the link anywhere you like.