Someone the other day mentioned that this was all a “New Beginning” for me. I think that was a very significant comment, considering that this all started as I prepared for our Young Women’s “New Beginning’s” Program.
The month of December was crazy. I decided for some unknown reason that I was going to “make” all my kids personalized Christmas presents this year. The kids all did the same. The month of December had us all making hats, clothes, dresses, pillows, blankets, and other personalized typed gifts. It was a neat Christmas. One that I will probably always remember, but I don’t know if I will ever try to do it again! The week after Christmas, it was probably no wonder that we were all sick. We had Influenza Type A. It was NOT fun, but as far as having the whole family sick, it wasn’t a bad week to have it happen.
The first week of January was a brand new beginning for me. I set my New Years Resolutions, and I wrote a song. A song called, “I’ll Stay With You”.
The words came from several different sources. My mom had asked me if I would sing and speak for their wards Visiting Teaching Conference in January. I have a lot of songs about Visiting Teaching, but she wanted the sisters to leave feeling inspired both as teachers, and as those struggling, as they bless each others lives. She also wanted the women to feel uplifted in sharing their testimonies.
I serve right now as the Young Women’s music leader in our ward. A ward is a small geographical area of Latter Day Saint church members. We were preparing for our New Beginnings program, and I was assigned to come up with a song to sing, either myself, or for a small group. We had a special guest speaker who would be speaking to us- a Sister Dibb from the General Young Women’s board. She also is President Monson’s daughter, and we were excited to hear the things she would be sharing with us about her mother, and the example that she had been in their family.
Last year, I wrote a song called “One Virtue at a Time” for our “New Beginnings” program. It was an experience I treasure, because it was one of those songs that I wrote, where I just can’t hardly take any credit for writing it. The music and words just “came”. Because of that experience, I wanted to write another song. I was hoping for a similar experience. Because of Christmas, and our family being sick, I hadn’t even begun thinking about the song I wanted to write. The program wasn’t scheduled until the 22nd, but Sister Dibb needed to change the date to the 8th. I only had 1 week to write the song.
My husband has been a great resource for ideas, and critique on my songs. In this crunch time, I asked him what I should do. What kind of song could I write for a solo or duet, that could maybe work for both purposes- a song to sing at the Visiting Teaching conference, and for our New Beginnings Program. He thought for only a moment, and suggested a scripture story that came to his mind. The story of Ruth and Naomi from the scriptures. He pulled out his scriptures and began telling me about these two women. I knew this was what I should write the song about.
Only a couple days before the program, I asked my good friend, Jessica Perry (a young women’s advisor) and asked if she wouldn’t mind learning this song to sing. Jessica is an amazing lady. She is a professional actress, and has a gorgeous voice. I knew she would be perfect to sing with. She learned the song and we found it very fun to sing together. I didn’t have enough time to try and get an accompanist, so I recorded the piano onto a CD.
The night of our New Beginnings program, I gave a brief synopsis of the book of Ruth in the scriptures. I was way more nervous to talk than I was to sing, but I was also quite nervous to sing. I don’t usually get that nervous, but I was. If I’d had any idea what was about to happen to my life after I sang that song, I wonder if I would have been so nervous. But that night, after Jessica and I sang the song, I was just so glad it was over!
Our New Beginnings program was a success. Sister Dibb’s talk was excellent and I was just so grateful that the song had worked, and hopefully had served it’s purpose.