A remote mobile home gleams faintly in the crisp autumn sunrise. Within that metal refuge in the high deserts of central Oregon, a young mother is having a quiet time with the Lord. Her toddler is still asleep. Her husband is a full-time college student, and the couple is surviving on $400 per month. They have no home church and no friends nearby; she does not drive. Even the expense of a long-distance phone call might leave them without milk or bread in weeks to come. Such is the backdrop of Laurie Klein’s classic praise song, “I Love You, Lord,” written in 1974.

“It was a very hopeless time, a very depressed time. I felt the poverty of my own life keenly at that point, both emotionally and physically. That morning I was so empty,” she says, recalling her time with the Lord. “I knew I didn't have anything to offer Him. I asked if He would like to hear me sing ... if He would just give me something He would be in the mood to hear.”

Laurie describes “I Love You, Lord” as a gift from God that emerged spontaneously: “I sang the first half and put the chords with it with no effort,” she says. “I love You Lord, and I lift my voice, to worship You, O my soul, rejoice!” Intrigued and moved by these words, she remembers thinking, “Maybe I should write that down.” She stopped long enough to get a pen. When she came back, the last two phrases came just as easily: “Take joy, my King, in what you hear; May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.”

Laurie's husband, Bill, recognized the simple beauty of the song and encouraged her to play it for a local pastor and some visiting musicians. Eventually the song surfaced at Jack Hayford’s Church on the Way in Van Nuys, California. There Buck and Annie Herring learned the song and included it on Annie’s Kids of the Kingdom. But its greatest exposure was on Maranatha! Music's Praise 4 in 1980. Since then, Bill has lost count but estimates the song has been released on 60 or 70 recordings. Pondering the enduring popularity of the classic, Laurie says, “I feel like God not only gave me the song, but He kissed it. He has kind of a ‘Midas touch.’ The things He touches are golden ... and I think people recognize this.”

The Children Bell Shakers are playing an arrangement of “I Love You, Lord” for Sunday’s prelude, and we will sing it as our Doxology. Laurie Brendemuehl Klein (b. 1950, above) is the author of the prize-winning chapbook Bodies of Water, Bodies of Flesh. Her poems and prose have appeared in many publications, including Ascent, The Southern Review, Atlanta Review, Terrain, The Christian Century, and the Holman Personal Worship Bible. She is a recipient of the Thomas Merton Prize for Poetry of the Sacred. You may connect with her on Facebook and at www.lauriekleinscribe.com.

In the preface to her first book of hymns, Joy and Wonder, Love and Longing (2002), Mary Louise Bringle (b. 1953, left) says hymn writing started for her as something of a fluke. Her first hymn, “From Sacred Love, All Loving Flows” (our opening hymn), was written for a wedding in 1998. She quickly rose to prominence in a few short years. I met Mel when we were classmates at the 2000 Hymn Writers’ Workshop in Boston. In 2005, I composed a setting of “From Sacred Love.” Just a few days ago, I was stunned to discover a printed copy of that setting. I had forgotten ever writing it! I re-engraved it and sent it to her. She says she likes it “a lot” and wishes it could have been used as the setting in her book, instead of the tune O WALY WALY. Dr. Bringle is Professor of Religious Studies at Brevard College, Brevard, North Carolina, and chair of the Humanities Division. In 2020 she was named a Fellow of The Hymn Society, their highest honor.

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