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

This encore performance of Music & the Spoken Word has been specially selected for airing while the Choir and Orchestra are practicing social distancing. It contains a new Spoken Word written and delivered by Lloyd Newell.

Music

Conductor: Mack Wilberg
Organist: Brian Mathias
Narrator: Lloyd Newell

“Morning Has Broken”¹
Music: Gaelic melody
Lyrics: Eleanor Farjeon
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg

“Press Forward, Saints”²
Music: Vanja Y. Watkins
Lyrics: Marvin Gardner
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg

“Awake the Harp” from The Creation
Music: Franz Josef Haydn

“For the Beauty of the Earth” (organ solo)
Music: Conrad Kocher; setting by Michael Burkhardt

“There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today”³
Music: John R. Sweney
Lyrics: Eliza E. Hewitt
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg

“It’s a Grand Night for Singing” from State Fair
Music: Richard Rodgers
Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II
Arrangement: Arthur Harris

“It Is Well with My Soul”⁴
Music: Philip P. Bliss
Lyrics: Horatio G. Spafford
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg

1. On the CD Consider the Lilies and in the CD set Encore Collection.
2. On the CD Let Us All Press On.
3. On the CDs This is the Christ, Then Sings My Soul and in the CD set Anniversary Collection.
4. On the CD Tree of Life.

The Spoken Word

Good Thoughts

A beloved children’s book from decades ago contains this keen observation: “A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”¹

Good thoughts, positive thinking, optimism, hopefulness—no matter what we call it, it’s powerful. And that power goes far beyond making a person look more lovely. Good thoughts change the way we look at life, which in turn affects the choices we make. So it probably isn’t an overstatement to say that good thoughts can change the very course of our lives. 

This principle is illustrated in a folktale about two employees of a shoemaker. Both were assigned to travel to a remote region and sell shoes to the people living there. After several days of hard work, both employees reported back to the shoemaker. One was discouraged, declaring, “What a waste of time. None of these people wear shoes.”² But the second saw things differently, exclaiming, “What a great opportunity! None of these people wear shoes!” Both had the same task and the same challenges; the difference was in the way they thought about it all. A positive outlook produces positive results. 

That doesn’t mean people with good thoughts never experience bad times. Good thoughts don’t shield us from trouble, but they can keep us going when troubles present themselves. Good thoughts give us a sense of hope and peace, of strength and resolution. Good thoughts give meaning and direction to our day-to-day pursuits. Good thoughts empower us to build and bless the lives of others—something that is so needed in a world full of anger and negativity.

Best of all, good thoughts can bring us to God, the Creator of this beautiful world and the giver of every good thing—including, of course, good thoughts, for all that is good comes from God.

1. Roald Dahl, The Twits (2017), 9.
2. See Michael Josephson, “Disposition or Discipline?” What Will Matter (blog), whatwillmatter.com.