Songs in the Heart

"With A Song in My Heart" is the theme song of an old movie of the same title. Like any love song, it expresses the feelings of a lover for his/her beloved. The first line is: "With a song in my heart, I behold your adorable face."

We all feel the presence of love in our hearts. It can be love for a person -- a girlfriend/boyfriend, a wife/husband, a mother, a child, a friend. It can be for God Himself.

Love songs are composed by people who can set in words and music what they feel in their hearts. "Gaano Ko Ikaw Kamahal" by Ernani Cuenco, "Sa 'Yo Lamang" by Fr. Manoling Francisco, "I Beg to Fall in Love with Thee My Lord" by Fr. Arnel Aquino, "Adoro Te Devote" by St. Thomas Aquinas are just a few of the millions of love songs that millions enjoy listening to or singing either alone, in gatherings, or in church through the ages. The songs help verbalize what we feel in our hearts or move us into discovering or wanting to have its presence there.

Not everyone is a songwriter. Not everyone has the gift to describe and translate his or her special feelings into songs that others can sing. But the important thing is that there is that song residing in one's heart. For a song in the heart makes one happy and at peace simply with it being there. The human heart is capable of loving because the Creator of that heart put it there to be nurtured and shared.

But the human heart can also harbor bitterness, anger, and unforgiveness. Since these are the exact opposites of love, allowing their presence smothers the love that is already there. There is no room for these in our hearts. They destroy the peace and joy that come naturally with loving. Scripture says, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." (1 John 4:8) That love is far beyond what even the most loving people are capable of giving.

God expressed His love in what we may also call a love song, truly a love song. He had that song eternally but sang it for us in time when He sent His beloved Son to dwell with us and offer His very own life, that we might live with Him. That song of God dwells in our hearts.

"If you remain in Me, you will remain in My Love," says the Lord. We belong to Him.

With God's love song in our hearts, we can behold the adorable face of God now and then, forever! #

"Love is patient; love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, is not quick-tempered, and does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. . . . So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love." (1 Cor 13:4-8,13)

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." (1 John 4:9-11)

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