Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, July 15, 2008


I can't give you anything but love, baby
That's the only thing I've plenty of, baby
Dream a while, scheme a while
We're sure to find
Happiness and I guess
All those things you've always pined for
Gee, I'd like to see you looking swell, baby
Diamond bracelets Woolworth doesn't sell, baby
Till that lucky dayYou know darned well, baby
I can't give you anything but love.

- Dorothy Fields, born on this day, 1905


Many years ago, I was lying on the little beach that served the lake on which my grandmother’s cottage was built, in the Laurentian mountains north of Montreal. I fell asleep – and dreamed. I heard a noise behind me. I looked, and Jesus was standing there on the beach. He looked very much the Middle Eastern Jew, dark-skinned, black short hair, black eyes. And He was singing! To me. Guess what He was singing?? “I can’t give you anything but Love, Baby!” . I awoke, and I was humming the song - which, by the way, was partially written by ….. Jimmy McHugh! That was my father’s name!!

I love dreams. They are a part of the language of the Divine. I firmly believe that our needs connect with God, and what we need is gifted to us, often through dreams. I really needed to know that God was all about Love, that Love trumped everything else. And here was my message! In a delightful way, God had used Dorothy Fields to send me a singing “telegram”.

While I’ve “forgotten” it often through the years, when needed the song has come back, reminding me of what I need to stay centered in.

The best part of the message, of course, was “I can’t give you anything but love, baby”. That’s the true character of God. Forget anything else! That’s the only thing God has plenty of, Baby!



Brian+