Dear Friends,

What a strange perennial song that is. For countless decades, it seems, every political convention at some point has folks standing in the aisles singing it. Yet how many believe it? Or, as the songwriter might have put it, how many would like to be in their number?

Maybe its fading fast along with the words on our dollar bill, "In God we trust," or institutions like marriage and "true love." Perhaps these are merely ideas that have outworn their time and those of us who still believe in them and live them are simply leftover dinosaurs who do not realize our time has passed.

Look at the current state of marriage. More and more are short-term and often end miserably. It seems nowadays so many folks just prefer to "hook up" for a night or a week or whatever seems convenient for the time being. No muss, no fuss. Disposable diapers, disposable relationships. It beats having to hammer out a pre-nuptial contract.

And how do we train our young people about relationships? We seem to be doing everything to protect their physical health through education on the proper use of contraceptives, rather than teaching them values linked to self-worth and another old bromide that goes something like, "your body is a sacred temple."

Truth is all too easily forgotten when it is no longer lived.

Truth is: marriage without fear of divorce comes only when you trust and support the good and the God in each other, every day. Then marriage is mutually honoring. Truth is: hook-ups are the result of hang-ups unaddressed long enough that it became easy to deny they ever existed. Serve the good in each other and hangs up will gradually cease to hang you up.

Truth is: each of us can "trust in God" in our lives each day by finding the God-self within ourselves and seeing it in everyone else. Otherwise, putting the phrase on our currency means nothing to us.

And what about freedom? Freedom is never easy or free. It takes diligence.

Personal freedom was never meant to be taken as license to live with disrespect for others, to waste our gifts and talents for cheap thrills, or to sell ourselves to someone for the price of a smile and momentary attention mistaken for love.

Truth is: love was promised to all of us by our Creator, but we have to find it within our own hearts first or we will forever be seeking it in someone else.

One modern expression asserts that "Truth hurts." That's true only if someone isn't living their truth, their goodness. I grew up with an older expression that says, "The truth shall set you free." We can move from the first vision of truth to the second only when we drop our fears and pain and reach out to help others. That is the truth we must stand up for now.

Wouldn't you like to be in that number? Well, live your truth, and then get marching!

Bless you in all ways always,

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