A Note From Linda
Happy Fourth of July!
Fireworks! Parades! Barbeques!
Red-White-Blue!
Here in the United States, this is a very patriotic time for our country. We honor our war dead, our flag, and our nation. Some of these celebrations are very serious, others are opportunities to feel great pride, share lots of good food, and spend time with family and friends.
One of the things that I have learned in getting to know so many of our international clients, is that all peoples everywhere feel the same way that we do here in our country. We all long for peace, prosperity, and dreams come true.
If you are not familiar with it, please let me share the following poem with you. “This is My Song” was written in 1934 as a hymn by Lloyd Stone using the melody Finlandia composed by Jean Sibelious. It is sometimes called “A Song of Peace’. Below are the words. I hope you will take the three minutes needed to enjoy this you tube video version.
This Is My Song
This Is My Song (Jean Sibelius / Lloyd Stone)
This is my song, Oh God of all the nations,
A song of Peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrine.
But other hearts in other lands are beating,
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine.
But other lands have sunlight too and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
Oh hear my song, oh God of all the nations,
A song of Peace for their land and for mine.
May Truth and Freedom come to every nation;
May Peace abound where strife has raged so long;
That each may seek to love and build together,
A world united, righting every wrong;
A world united in its love for freedom,
Proclaiming Peace together in one song
