In this episode I get to chat with writer, musician, and artist Laurie Klein, who wrote the praise chorus, “I love you Lord and I lift my voice.” Laurie shares the where, when, and how the song first came into being. She describes it as a time when she had nothing to offer and how God gave her the song in a moment of despair. She says God took His song and blew it like a kiss across the world to those who needed it. She also recounts the many times in her life when God has reminded her that she is God’s expression of love. And that all people are His expression of love. Listen and share this episode and let God’s kiss keep blowing.
Links mentioned:
Website: https://lauriekleinscribe.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aanie.aanieinfree/
Laurie Klein featured in:
“Laurie Klein, the Wonder Junkie” https://artchowder.com/?p=6171
History of Hymns: “I Love You, Lord,” by Nathan Myrick
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/articles/history-of-hymns-i-love-you-lord
A global valentine: In February of 2019, believers the world over sang “I Love You, Lord” https://thebridesings.org/get-involved/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=270BR2XwxSI From the same website, the “ILY,L” version features my husband and I singing the song with friends.
Samples of Laurie’s writings:
Travel: My husband Bill’s bucket list includes seeing most of our National Parks. Here’s a celebration of creation piece, written after visiting and photographing Yellowstone. https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2017/11/09/regional-tour-booklover-footloose-wonderland-yellowstone-national-park/
Adventure: “I’d been warned. Now I had to descend a 100-foot staircase, then scale the primitive 32-foot Ladder of Death, squeeze through a 12-foot long tunnel the width of a chair seat, climb two more ladders, then gasp my way up three switch-backing flights of uneven steps, carved in stone—with only a chain for a handrail.” https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2016/09/08/regional-tour-mesa-verde-national-park-colorado/
Peace:
“Peace, they say, begins between two people. If High Tea is included, so much the better.” Camera in hand, I visit Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, absorbing history, geology, and pure wonder. Not to mention calories.
Racial reconciliation: A few words about “A small, if battered, symbol pointing me toward God’s peaceable kingdom.”
https://godspacelight.com/2020/09/03/nota-bene-a-backyard-fiasco-a-miniature-house-of-god/
Justice: “Going and coming, history grabs my lapels, achingly alive again, here, amid broken foundations, a lone chimney, rusted, abandoned tools. Come eavesdrop. Learn the stories.” https://www.coldmountainreview.org/issues/fall-2018-special-issue-on-justice/shenandoah-roethke-and-haunting-controversy-by-laurie-klein<
