Tag: storm

Music

The Willow is Weeping

Melodies of LightLeave a comment

Hello friends! Hope this post finds you well!

This is my newly-finished song called “The Willow is Weeping.”

I read a poem by JRR Tolkien a few months ago that spoke to my heart (“All that is gold does not glitter”) and I decided to write music to it. Then, because Tolkien’s estate makes getting copyright permission nearly impossible, I decided to replace the original words with my own. It didn’t take me long to decide what this song would be about. The week I was trying to decide on a topic so I could begin the lyric-writing process, I had a conversation with a gentleman at a church party. He spoke of losing his father this past summer and the waves of grief he is currently experiencing. Before we left, he expressed hope that brighter days lay ahead- days where the weight of grief will ease. I went home determined to write this song about grief.

It didn’t take me long to develop the lyrics, pulling from my own experiences, as well as family members and friends who have lost loved ones. I wanted an analogy that helped me talk about grief, and the willow tree seemed like just the thing. I soon developed the verses to shift through the seasons, and loved phrases like “under the ground something’s yawning” and “the numb and the frozen are thawing.”

Enjoy!

(This is a link to youtube where you can see pictures of willow trees as the music plays.)

Quote

Re-oriented

Melodies of Light1 Comment

A few years ago I went down to a Women’s Conference at Brigham Young University.  I brought back a photo with me that was a reminder of the things that I learned.  I can’t attach it here for copyright reasons, but you can go see it (and get a copy of your own if you love it as much as I do!) if you click on this link:

https://deseretbook.com/p/humility-3×4-print-simon-dewey-15276?ref=Grid%20%7C%20Simon%20Dewey%20%7C%20Taxon%3A%203301-81&variant_id=92818-3×4-print

I look back on that conference as having a personal theme for me (though it had very little to do with the speakers’ topics and everything about what I was learning through the Holy Ghost).  This was it: “Let Him help you.”  To me, that gorgeous photo represented that message.  I was trying to do too much on my own, and it was stressing me out.  I knew that they way to more peace was relying more on my Savior.

This weekend, I heard a quote at church that goes right along with that idea.  The speaker quoted this article, which you can read if you’d like the full story:

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1984/10/i-have-a-question/can-you-help-me-see-the-significance-of-the-account-of-peter-walking-on-the-water?lang=eng

I’m just going to quote my favorite two paragraphs.  For those of you who are not familiar with the biblical story of Peter walking on the water toward Jesus Christ, here’s a link to the verses that tell that story: Matthew 14:22-33

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/14.32-33?lang=eng#31

“As we learn the gospel and develop our faith, we reach the point where we feel strong enough to leave the boat; we determine to stand free from worldly supports and voluntarily walk by faith through the tempest toward our Savior. Each step for us may be a trial. The waves around us are as real in their way as Peter’s waves were to him. And, like Peter, we may slip! We may feel the awful descent toward destruction and, in confused desperation, consider the safety of the ship.

But wait! Our efforts to meet the trials of our faith—our footsteps over life’s treacherous waters—have somehow re-oriented us, and we reach out for safety, not to the boat, as we would have done in earlier times, but to the outstretched hand of the Savior. Hand grasps hand, and we are pulled to the Master of wind and water. No more is he seen vaguely through the storm; no more is his voice indistinct in the roar of the gale. Now we are home; now the trial is over.

And Jesus calms the storm.”

What a neat idea that in earlier times, our instinct would be to reach for the boat- to go back to what we perceive as “safe territory” and definitely less risky- at least less risky for the moment.  And yet through our experiences of walking by faith, we begin to instinctively reach for the Savior, knowing in a new way that real, lasting safety from the storm is only found by reaching toward the Savior.  Have a wonderful day, friends!