I'm gonna keep on, 'til I find it

One of my favorite hymns is "There is more love somewhere," an African American folk song included in Singing the Living Tradition. I have spent too much time this morning trying to find more information about the origin, but I am a horrible researcher, so I'm sorry for my lack of information. Basically, it goes like this:

There is more love, somewhere
There is more love, somewhere
I'm gonna keep on, 'til I find it
There is more love, somewhere

There is more hope, somewhere
There is more hope, somewhere
I'm gonna keep on, 'til I find it
There is more hope, somewhere

There is more joy, somewhere
There is more joy, somewhere
I'm gonna keep on, 'til I find it
There is more joy, somewhere

There is more peace, somewhere
There is more peace, somewhere
I'm gonna keep on, 'til I find it
There is more peace, somewhere

When you are surrounded by singers young and old, some belting out the words, some almost whispering them, some doing their best to harmonize, these words have the magic to build you up and help you believe in the possibility of finding whatever it is you're looking for–to keep on, 'til you find it.

Lately, in my own life, there has been a lot of sadness and a lot of happiness flip-flopping in my heart. And I've felt this odd struggle between joy and sorrow, and my guilt for feeling both. Sometimes, in the same five minutes.

But yesterday, as I sang this song with my dear community, I let the words comfort me. Encourage me. It was as if the voices around me were sharing this one hope: for goodness, in all the forms it comes in. There is more love. There is more hope. There is more joy. There is more peace. Whatever life throws at us, there are these beautiful, basic things, somewhere. And hearing all those voices sing those definitive words together, as if they were a true promise, that somewhere? Was right there.

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Monday Morning Warm-Up:

What has moved you lately?