The Load: The Story

Hello all!  Today I am excited to share a piece that was a collaborative effort, completed in 2017.  I wrote this summary when we completed the project last year:

This is my second collaboration with the very talented Shaillé Claypool!  We are excited to have put the final touches on this piece and send it out into the the world.  

This song originates from a talk given by Elder David A Bednar called “Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/bear-up-their-burdens-with-ease?lang=eng).  This talk had a lasting impression on me when it was given, but had particular significance to me during an anniversary trip that Jon and I took this year in February.  Jon had been called as Bishop (for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) six months earlier and was exhausted; this trip provided a much-needed get-away from the demands that he faced. We ended up reading this talk together on the Sunday before returning home, and it provided a great deal of comfort.  We needed the reminder that the heavy load we were carrying was not only needed for those we were serving but needed for US to move forward. “It was the load”. The heavy load was what enabled the husband in Elder Bednar’s story to return home.

When I returned home from the trip, I mentioned the talk and our experience to Shaillé and she wrote back stating that the idea to write a song about that talk was already in her computer file.  That was the beginning of “The Load”. The first versions were entitled “Burdens” and we subsequently changed the title to “The Load”. Shaillé wrote verses 2 and 3, and then later came up with lyrics for verse 1 which I feel adds a great deal to the entire piece.  

One interesting tidbit about the writing process is that I originally suggested that we end one of the verses by saying that our burdens will be light, instead of what Shaillé had drafted.  She wrote back saying that she didn’t want that to be the focal point- because she felt that real life has shown her that it doesn’t always feel like our burdens are light when Heavenly Father helps us.  Instead she suggested that we put the focus on greater understanding from Heavenly Father that the load is essential, and helps us return home. Yes, Heavenly Father will help us and lift our burdens, “but if not” or at least if it doesn’t feel like the burdens are lighter right now, know that the load is bringing you to Him, and bringing you home.  Ask him to help you and He will lead you home. That is the message of this piece. We hope you enjoy “The Load”!

The Load

Completed 10/27/17 by Shaillé Claypool and Laura Harper; see claypoolmusic.org for more of Shaillé Claypool’s music!)