Many thanks to Pauline Colton for sharing this beautiful watercolor painting with us. Below, she shares some of her thoughts about the painting, and a few of the many scriptures that came to mind as she was working on this piece. We first shared this in 2009 but the image was not accessible. We figured it was a great opportunity to re-share. Please note the image is copyrighted, and shared with permission. More information below.

Alma 37:6 “Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.”

The greatest of all the gifts of God is His Son. Christ willingly and lovingly makes the blessings, the healing and the power of the atonement available to each of us. Only by small and simple means can I be in a position to partake of the atonement.

As I worked on the drawing and design of this piece, I had many scriptures come to mind. By taking note of each scripture as I recalled it, I ended up with six pages of scriptures. I categorized the scriptures by elements in the painting. Here, I include only one reference for each category:

1. Being partakers – Alma 5:62

2. Fruit – 1 Nephi 8:10-12

3. Tree – Revelation 2:7

4. Oil – D&C 33:16-17

5. Support for the lamp – Isaiah 41:10

6. Drop by drop – Deut 32:2

7. Light of the World – John 8:12

8. Light of Christ given to man – D&C 84:45-46

9. Clay lamp – Isaiah 64:8

10. Being invited – Revelation 3:20

<font=size=”1″>Copyright Pauline Colton. Picture may be reproduced and used for for personal, non-profit use.</font=size=”1″>

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This song, “I am a Witness” was written for children and families to reflect on how they can be witnesses of Jesus even though we don’t live at the time that Jesus lived.

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~by Michelle

Truths about God’s love and His plan and His Son Jesus Christ are truths that even children can comprehend. Today, a children’s song came to mind that carries with it this kind of beautiful simplicity — and also points to so many layers of awe-inspiring truths.

This song talks about how we all lived with God before this life. We were given the opportunity to choose whether or not we wanted to come to earth and receive bodies and learn by experience through this mortal journey. We knew Jesus before this life, because He was central to God’s plan to allow us the opportunity to come back Home.

In this life, we have an opportunity to choose God’s plan and to choose to have faith in Jesus — again.

The song reminds me of William Wordsworth’s poem, “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood.” (I’d never seen the whole poem before; I recommend reading it in its entirety.)

Wordsworth was an English poet who was born in the later 18th century. His poem articulates this sense that our existence didn’t start here, but that

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:

The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,

                      Hath had elsewhere its setting,

                         And cometh from afar:

                      Not in entire forgetfulness,

                      And not in utter nakedness,

But trailing clouds of glory do we come

                      From God, who is our home:

Wordsworth also acknowledges that as we grow older, experiences of life can leave us forgetting, growing blinded to our divine identity evidences of Light all around us.

But we don’t have to walk blind, in the dark. We can, as the scriptures say, be as little children.

As these children sing, we can “Choose Him Again.”

[Song written by Shawna Edwards and performed by One Voice Children’s Choir]

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~by Kristi

I have a quote that I’d like to share. I heard it in “Music and the Spoken Word” several years ago and I wrote it on a piece of scratch paper.  Somehow it survived a couple of moves. I found it a couple of months ago and thought about the Refiner’s Fire and strong winds that Heavenly Father uses to reveal who we really are – and who we are meant to be.

“Adversity is like a strong wind – it tears from us all, but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.” ~ Arthur Golden

On that same piece of paper, I wrote down John Rutter’s “Look to the Day” — because that was the song sung after Lloyd Newell finished the spoken word. John Rutter is my favorite contemporary composer. I’ve sung many of his songs in concerts on Temple Square, but I had not heard this song before. I instantly loved it as my soul connected to the music and the words. I actually didn’t know the full message of the song, until I looked up the words last night, as some of them are hard to understand, when the choir is singing. It’s a beautiful message and video. If you get a chance, I recommend watching the video on one screen, while being able to read the words on another. As I took in the complete message, it resonated with An Early Resurrection. Yes, it’s looking to the Day when there is no more pain, and also to this Day, right now.  “Love is a certain way of looking forward, a way of looking at the world, right now, as already redeemed.” ~ Adam S. Miller 

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This special interfaith event, “Witnesses of Christmas, was filmed from both Copenhagen’s historic Church of Our Lady and the visitor’s center near the Rome temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Music was provided by Jenny Oaks Baker and the Family Four and soprano Alex Sharpe. Narration was provided by Danish actor Tomas Ambt Kofod, who begins in the Church of our Lady (home of Bertel Thorvaldsen’s Christus statue, as well as statues depicting the original twelve apostles). A replica of the Christus and the other statues can also be seen in the background at the Rome temple visitor’s center behind the musicians.

This special Christmas presentation includes “memorable musical performances blended with a biblical account of our Savior’s humble birth in Bethlehem. Encounter the diverse cultures of Europe as you watch holiday traditions in this unique Christmas event.”

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There are two things that, for me, help make Christmas special — lights and music. The list of Christmas music that lifts my spirits is endless.

Today, I wanted to share a new Christmas song by Shawna Edwards and Angie Killian. It’s a children’s Christmas song called “When We Seek Him.” It captures how Jesus is anxious and willing to walk with us in our lives, if we simply seek Him.

We’ve included a couple other songs from these two composers below.

Shawna Edwards’ first song, “Do You Have Room?” was first written for her family as a Christmas gift after reading

You can read the whole story on Shawna’s blog. We also have it shared a few times here on our site. It was a song written for her family as a Christmas gift after reading this article by Thomas S. Monson. Re-reading his words, shared in 1990, they tie in beautifully to “When We Seek Him” as well.

“Before we can successfully undertake a personal search for Jesus, we must first prepare time for him in our lives and room for him in our hearts. In these busy days there are many who have time for golf, time for shopping, time for work, time for play—but no time for Christ.

“Lovely homes dot the land and provide rooms for eating, rooms for sleeping, playrooms, sewing rooms, television rooms, but no room for Christ.”

TIt was after her father’s death that she decided to have the song recorded. Her dad had often asked her if she was going to do anything with the song. Shawna asked April Meservy to record it, and on a whim, Shawna put the music on YouTube to share with a few friends and family members and at a church activity. It quickly went viral. Shawna got emails from people all over the world wanting to listen to and sing this song.

You can download sheet music for the song here and the lyrics can be found here.

Angie Killian started writing music in 2016 as a way to teach her children more about Jesus Christ (and to find her own peace through the long nights of young motherhood). Like Shawna, she has felt compelled to write music and share it to help build faith in Jesus Christ.

Angie recently shared another Christmas song called “Wonderful One.” I thought it was pretty amazing that she was able to include dozens of missionaries in the music video.

As we move into the last week before Christmas, let’s all try to remember the Reason for the Season and make room to seek Him each day.

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I’m going to keep the theme of music going over the coming weeks. We welcome submissions on the topic.

“Master, the Tempest is Raging” is a hymn that was mentioned in one of the talks a couple of weeks ago, and it made me think of my son. This is one of his favorite hymns,.

He loves this arrangement in particular.

So do I.

And if you are passing through a tempest time, remember that Jesus was in the boat while the tempest roared. He is with us in our storms. Immanuel = God with us.

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“The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before.” –Dieter F. Uchtdorf

As we create and share things that are “lovely…[and]…of good report” we can connect to our divine nature, and invite others to elevate their minds and hearts toward their own highest good.

Today, I wanted to share what one group of students, a percussion quartet called Tangents, is doing to add some good to the world, both through performance and through outreach at schools and doing clinics for students.

One of the group’s members, Peyton Ford, talks about her excitement to be able to “share the gospel of Jesus Christ in an unobtrusive way — we just play good music and serve others the best we can.”

The group was created by a professor at Brigham Young University in 2019 during his first year at the university. One of three pieces launched virtually in February 2021 was a performance of “Sevilla” from Suite Espanola by Isaac Albeniz, shown below. (You can see the other two videos on the BYU Percussion Quartet’s Tangents YouTube channel

The most recent video from Tangents includes a guest appearance by Daron Bradford, who owns and plays over 100 different types of wind instruments. Daron has been playing for the Tabernacle Orchestra at Temple Square for many years, and has performed on stage or in recordings with musicians such as Christian stars Jordan Smith, Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith; Broadway singers Sandra Turley, Dallyn Vale Bailes, and Dale Kristien; and many others.

The performance with Tangents and Daron Bradford below is of John Cage’s Living Room Music. (This piece was written in 1940 with instructions to use any kind of household objects. The Metropolitan Orchestra Percussion quartet performed this piece almost a decade ago, as have other groups. Each performance is different depending on the objects selected.)

Tangents plays wood instruments…as in using pieces of wood on a sand dune instead of in a living room. They also use rock and other natural objects. True to the composer’s intent, in one movement they use only their voices (apparently called a speech quartet).

You can watch their performance of Living Room Music below or at this YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuN5iXxk-aY

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The 12 Days of Christmas Music is coming to an end, and the list of wonderful music is much longer than we could have shared here. But I hope you have enjoyed some of the music all the same. We’d love it if you shared any of your favorite Christmas music in the comments or on our Facebook page.

Before I get to the heart of this last day’s post, I wanted to slide a little something in that I didn’t get to sharing earlier. It’s a wonderful annual program called “Christmas Under the Stars” that is broadcast on BYU-TV. This year, Lauren Daigle was the guest artist, and you can watch the rebroadcast of that concert here. Some past concerts are also available for your enjoyment, including performances with John Legend, The Band Perry, Train, and Vocal Point. (Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, and Jordan Smith were also guests on this program, but apparently that can’t be viewed on demand anymore. Keep an eye on BYU-TV next Christmas — they did broadcast this concert once this year on December 4. It’s amazing.)

But to finish off our 12 Days of Christmas Music celebration, it seems only fitting to conclude with the glorious “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah. There are many versions out there, but given the challenges of 2020, I thought the World’s Largest Virtual Hallelujah Chorus would be an appropriate version to share. I encourage you to sing along as you listen!

If you are looking for even more of Handel’s Messiah, you can find a performance of the entire Messiah here, including options for subtitles in French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese). The Tabernacle Choir Messiah page also includes a link for a free downloadable score of the music, which is also available in several languages (click on the flag in the top right corner of the page). And you will find many other resources about this majestic musical masterpiece that honors Jesus Christ in such a powerful way.

Even though we are having to physically separate more than usual this year — not even being able to sing together as usual! — I would like to share Kelli O’Hara’s words when she was interviewed about singing with the Tabernacle Choir (which you can do if you sing along here!)

“Every year, I need to find what it is that brings that really overwhelming sense of everything greater than us, together. I need to find the moment when everybody comes together for that same purpose…. [W]e’re all here for the same thing, for the same bit of love, the same bit of hope, and that’s what it feels like. It’s a oneness, and it’s refreshing.”

After scheduling this post, I stumbled on an opinion piece entitled, “World peace is already here. Are you listening for it?” It echoed what I was feeling as I settled on what to share for the final 12 Days of Christmas Music post, and expanded upon it, so I wanted to be sure to share it.

The article is about Eric Whitacre’s amazing virtual choir that came together over the summer, with over 17,000 voices from 129 countries. You can read the lyrics of the beautiful song, “Sing Gently” in the article. Watch the incredible virtual choir here.

And linger with me on the author’s final words.

When so much consumes us, where do we find peace?

A different choir answered that question two millennia ago. To shepherds they rejoiced at the birth of a babe in a manger, the promised messiah, the Prince of Peace.

Their heavenly song lifts us today if we’re willing to join them.

On this Christmas day, wherever we are, singing and celebrating safely in our own private spaces, we can still join our hearts together as one around the world as we celebrate and sing personal praises to the One who came to save us all.

Merry Christmas!

May we sing together, always.

May our voice be soft.

May our singing be music for others

and may it keep others aloft.

Sing gently, always.

Sing gently as one.

May we stand together, always.

May our voice be strong.

May we hear the singing and

May we always sing along.

-Eric Whitacre

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Even with COVID, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints found a way to still hold the annual “Luz de las Naciones” event, a Christmas celebration highlighted through Latin music and dance. The video compilation features over 1000 volunteers from performances from years past.

From the website, Venir a Cristo:

“Con un elenco de más mas de 1000 voluntarios, esta producción anual de La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Dias celebra el nacimiento de El Salvador a través de la música, el baile y villancicos hispanos llenos del espíritu de la Navidad. 

“En esta presentación virtual de Luz de las Naciones realizada en el Centro de Conferencias de la Manzana del Templo en Salt Lake, se celebran las culturas latinas de todo el mundo y se destaca el nacimiento del Señor Jesucristo y su creencia en Él como la Luz del Mundo.”

The video of the celebration is embedded below, or can be found at Venir a Cristo or on YouTube.

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