Put a Little Love in Your Heart

This week, the world lost an icon. Dolly Parton passed away on August 25, and like so many people, I have been reading the beautiful tributes being shared about her. Of course, people are remembering her incredible talent, her music and everything she accomplished in her lifetime. But what has struck me most is how much people are talking about the way she lived.

People remember her kindness, her generosity, her humor, her faith and the joy she brought to others. She had this wonderful ability to simply be herself without needing everyone else to be just like her. She had her own beliefs and opinions, but she didn't need to convince everyone else to share them. She could stand firmly in who she was while still leaving room for other people to be who they were.

As I read tribute after tribute, I kept thinking about that. Here was someone who was loved by people from all walks of life, with all kinds of different beliefs and backgrounds. And so much of what people admired about her had nothing to do with her fame. They admired the way she treated people and the way she moved through the world.

And it made me wonder: If so many people admired the way Dolly lived, why don't more of us live that way?

We admire kindness, generosity, and people who make us laugh and feel good. We admire people who can be completely themselves while still making room for everyone else.

We say we want more kindness in the world, but are we always kind? We say we are tired of all the division, but do we sometimes contribute to it? We don't like judgment when it is directed at us, but are we careful about the judgments we make of others? We admire people who lift others up, but do we do enough of that ourselves?

While I was going down the rabbit hole last week, I came across Dolly's version of “Put a Little Love in Your Heart.” She recorded the song many years ago, but somehow its simple message feels especially meaningful right now.

Maybe we don't have to think about how to make the whole world kinder or less divided. Maybe we can simply pay a little more attention to what we are bringing into our own little corners of it.

Are we adding kindness or criticism? Are we listening or judging? Can we allow someone to have a different opinion without feeling the need to change it? Do people feel a little better after spending time with us?

There is something about seeing so many people mourn Dolly that makes me think there is a lesson in all of this. If these are the qualities we admire so deeply when we see them in another person, maybe we can try to bring a little more of them into our own lives.

Maybe honoring a life well-lived isn't only about admiring that person. Maybe it's about taking what we loved about them, bringing a little more of it into our own lives, and passing it along to others.

And maybe it really can begin with something as simple as this:

Put a little love in your heart.