#reallife: How Lovely was the Morning

This semester I took a religion class called Foundations of the Restoration. The class discussed the foundational events of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We started by discussing Joseph Smith's First Vision, and moved through all the key events until his martyrdom, and the succession. We touched on hot topics like the seer stone, blacks and the priesthood, plural marriage, women and the priesthood, etc. I could spend hours writing about everything I learned in this class.

For our semester project, we were instructed to create something that captured our faith in Jesus Christ and in Joseph Smith's calling as a prophet. You are not obligated to read this post, so if you have hard feelings about either of those topics, I won't require you to read what I have to say. The purpose of this blog post is not to teach any doctrine, or explain about Joseph's life - I just wanted to share my project and a brief explanation.

For my project, I chose to compose an arrangement of a hymn about Joseph's First Vision. (click here to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing it)

The words of the hymn are as follows:
Oh, how lovely was the morning!
Radiant beamed the sun above.
Bees were humming, sweet birds singing
Music ringing through the grove.
When, within the shady woodland,
Joseph sought the God of love.
When, within the shady woodland,
Joseph sought the God of love.

Humbly kneeling, sweet appealing
'Twas the boy's first uttered prayer
And the power's of sin assailing
Filled his soul with deep despair
But, undaunted still he trusted
In his Heavenly Father's care
But, undaunted still he trusted
In his Heavenly Father's care.

Suddenly, a light descended
Brighter far than noonday sun.
And a shining, glorious pillar
O'er him feel, around him shown.
While appeared two heavenly beings,
God the Father and the Son
While appeared two heavenly beings,
God the Father and the Son.

"Joseph, This is my Beloved,
Hear Him." Oh, how sweet the words
Joseph's humble prayer was answered
and he listened to the Lord.
Oh, what rapture filled his bosom
For, he saw the living God!
Oh, what rapture filled his bosom,
For, he saw the living God!

As I composed this song, I tried to think about the words and reflect on what they mean to me. Over the course of my life I have frequently prayed to understand Joseph's role as a prophet and to come to know for myself that he was in fact called of God. It is beautiful to me to think that just as God always called prophets before, he again called a prophet in this dispensation. The only way to know if something is of God is to ask God. I have asked God for myself and have felt the witness of the Holy Ghost bear testimony to me that Joseph Smith was called as the Prophet of the Restoration. I thought about these things and tried to put that feeling into the song. There is a marvelous power in music and I hope you can feel the Spirit touch your heart too when you listen to my song.