The year is 2015. Here in the valleys of the mountains, the frenzied days of July, with summer holidays, family reunions the July Fourth and the Pioneer Day celebrations are over for another season. School days have begun for many and change is in the air. There have been anniversaries, births and deaths, but life as we know it goes on about and within us from one day to the next.
This is our day. But what of the days, the lives and the ways that have gone before us?
In August 1847, a rather loosely organized choir, which would later become the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, sang at a special conference in the valley, during which the name “Great Salt Lake City” was chosen for the new home of the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the West, and “Jordan” as the name for the river that ran through the wide valley, north and south (see mormontabernaclechoir.org, saltlakecityutah.org and pioneer.utah.gov).
In 1848 during the month of August, a feast was held in gratitude for the very first harvest in this isolated place that was to be home to the Saints for generations of time to come, according to "On This Day in the Church," by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Alexander L. Baugh, Robert C. Freeman, Andrew H. Hedges.
Earlier, in August 1829, Martin Harris pledged to mortgage his farm to stand the costs of printing the ancient history of the Americas, the Book of Mormon, according to "On This Day in the Church." And earlier still, in August 1775, Lucy Mack Smith was a month old and beginnng a life that would see the Restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In August of 1862, the Second Battle of Bull Run was fought with 22,180 casualties, according to americanhistory.about.com/od/civilwarbattles/p/cwbattle_bull2.htm.
And in August of 1914, the First Presidency of the LDS Church brought back the missionaries who had been serving in Germany and France, evacuating them because of the outbreak of a terrifying war only a few weeks before, according to "On This Day in the Church."
These things are not just part of history — they are part of our lives.
Just as my beloved great-grandmother who in August 1874 with her mother and sister had left their island home off the shore of Glasgow, Scotland, and were crossing the ocean, bound for Zion. Janet was 11 years old at the time, and she sat on an upturned box and sang to the ship’s captain as he steered the vessel toward America. In her new home in the valley of the Great Salt Lake, she grew up to sing in the Tabernacle Choir, as did her daughter, Jessie, after her. Jessie became loved of the Mormon people because of the beauty and power of her unusual contralto voice, and because of her willingness to sing free of charge at every gathering, from funerals and marriages to missionary farewells, homecomings and even family parties.
This time in mortality that you and I are facing today and tomorrow does not stand isolated in its frustrations and challenges.
Think of the words of the song "This is My Day":
"My Day began in scant-remembered yesterdays ago, My Day moves on and outward, like a river in its flow. My Day embraces more than where I am, and what I do, And all those that I love, and have loved form a part of My Day, too."
There is so much that we take with us on our walk through mortality that we do not remember or realize. Things that have helped fashion what we are, helped determine our loves, our fears, our hopes, our desires.
The lyrics continue:
"And there is Love which waits for me in forms I do not know, Those I shall love are part of how My Day will live and grow: This is My Day, and it shall move and lift and sing along, And all the loves and learnings of my life shall shape its song. This is My Day."
Many times the demands of the moment seem overwhelming. It's easy to look into the mirror and see only the distorted image of the here and now that flickers before us. Because of the power of the image, we perceive only that which is right there as some sort of fixed, perhaps seemingly overwhelming, reality. It may be discouraging. It may makes us wonder: “Is this all I am?”
No one has said it better than Henry David Longfellow did. “What is time? — The shadow on the dial, the striking of the clock, the running of the sand, day and night, summer and winter, months, years, centuries — these are but the arbitrary and outward signs — the measure of time, not time itself. Time is the life of the soul” (see "Dictionary of Thought," compiled by Tryon Edwards, published in 1904).
And "the life of the soul" goes back to garner wonders that have been, and forward to embrace possibilities that will be. With eyes open to this as reality, a person can begin to see his or herself more as he or she truly is. People are never just the narrow image that the mirror reflects. Within us, oh, within us, are the miracles of what we have been and what we are yet to be!
Remember Albert Einstein’s words? “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle” (see "Dictionary of Thought").
Each person is a miracle — a tapestry of the breath of life, the song of courage, the tenderness of compassion, the joy of creation, in the souls of those who assist in this remarkable journey, which is Your Day.
And the song continues:
"This is My Day, and it shall move and lift and sing along, And all the loves and learnings of my life shall shape its song: This is My Day."
Susan Evans McCloud is author of more than 40 books and has published screenplays, a book of poetry and lyrics, including two songs in the LDS hymnbook. She has six children. She blogs at susanevansmccloud.blogspot.com. Email: susasays@broadweave.net