One of my Thanksgiving highlights is performing in Rexburg's Turkey Choir on Thanksgiving morning. We attend six intense and challenging rehearsals the Sunday evenings preceding Thanksgiving, then put on an awe-inspiring concert Thanksgiving morning. I'd guess there are somewhere between 150-180 voices. The conductor, Kendall Nielson, and his amazing wife & pianist Elaine (?) are the perfect team and more talented than you can imagine.
I come home from rehearsals late at night wishing everyone in the world could have that experience of participating in a group to orchestrate something bigger and better than you can alone; to be a part of a group of people working together as one. It fills my heart and soul. I have had many soul defining moments while creating music-- those moments when the music, the lyrics, & the spirit that accompany them teach me about the nature of God.
These are my favorite lyrics from two of this year's pieces:
We’ll understand it Better By & By by Charles A. Tindley (1855-1933)
Trials dark on every hand, and we cannot understand
All the ways that God would lead us to that blessed Promised Land
But he’ll guide us with His eye,
And we’ll follow till we die;
We will understand it better by and by.
By and by and by, Lord, when the morning comes,
When the blessed saints of God are gathered home;
We will tell the story, how we’ve overcome;
We will understand it better by and by.
You’ll Never Walk Alone
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
When you walk through a storm,
Keep your head up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark,
At the end of the storm is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark.
Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Tho’ your dreams be tossed and blown,
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart,
And you’ll never walk alone.
You’ll never walk alone.
Girls 1
2 days ago