The Music & the Spoken Word broadcast airs live via TV, radio, and internet stream on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. mountain daylight time. For information on other airtimes, visit Airing Schedules at musicandthespokenword.org.

Music

Conductor: Mack Wilberg
Organist: Linda Margetts
Announcer: Lloyd Newell

“The Gospel Train”
Music and Lyrics: African-American spiritual
Arrangement: Nathan Hofheins

“This Little Light of Mine”
Music: African-American spiritual
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg

“Come, Ye Children of the Lord” (Organ solo)
Music: Spanish melody
Arrangement: James C. Kasen

“Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates”¹ from Messiah
Music: George Frideric Handel

“Homeward Bound”²
Music and Lyrics: Marta Keen
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg

“I Will Follow God’s Plan”³
Music and Lyrics: Vanja Y. Watkins
Arrangement: Nathan Hofheins

“O Come Ye Nations of the Earth”
Music: German hymn tune
Lyrics: David Warner
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg

1. On the CDs Messiah - Complete Oratorio.
2. On the CDs Mormon Tabernacle Choir & Friends, 9/11: Rising Above, and Love Is Spoken Here.
3. On the CD Teach Me to Walk in the Light.
 

The Spoken Word

The Course of Life

Some people face so many obstacles and seem to struggle and barely get by as they journey through life. On the other hand, others seem to travel an easy, scenic road with beautiful vistas all around. In reality, it’s likely that neither assumption is entirely true. We usually don’t discover the truth until we look a little deeper than outward appearances.

The well-known British writer C. S. Lewis used an industrial example to teach the same principle: “To judge the management of a factory, you must consider not only the output but the plant. Considering the plant at Factory A it may be a wonder that it turns out anything at all; considering the first-class outfit at Factory B its output, though high, may be a great deal lower than it ought to be. No doubt the good manager at Factory A is going to put in new machinery as soon as he can, but that takes time. In the meantime low output does not prove that he is a failure.”¹

This is a good reminder whenever we are tempted to be judgmental. Each life course is so individual, so personal. There’s so much about every person that we do not and cannot see—experiences and circumstances that shaped him or her in ways we can’t calculate. If we knew the whole story, there are some ordinary-seeming people who would astound us with their productive, happy lives. Some lives that may seem mediocre are actually quite miraculous.

Of course, that doesn’t mean the future is at the mercy of the past. In spite of whatever went into shaping us, we can decide who we want to be. Hundreds of daily choices get us to where we want to go. And the first choice is believing that we have the ability to change, improve, and find happiness.

Neal A. Maxwell said: “Circumstances . . . shape us significantly. Yet there remains an inner zone in which we are sovereign, unless we abdicate. In this zone lies the essence of our individuality. . . . What we insistently desire, over time, is what we will eventually become.”²

When we look at others, we can remember that we see only part of the course of their lives. And when we look at ourselves, we can similarly remember that the course we’ve known is not irreversible. It is determined by our most sincere desires and efforts.

1. Mere Christianity (2001), 210–11.
2. “According to the Desire of [Our] Hearts,” Ensign, Nov. 1996, 21.