Cast Thy Burden Upon the Lord

"Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee. He never will suffer the righteous to fall: He is at thy right hand. Thy mercy, Lord, is great, and far above the heavens. Let none be made ashamed, that wait upon Thee!"

This piece, originally a quartet from Mendelssohn's Elijah, is the chorus of angels after Elijah has called down fire from heaven to burn his sacrifice and prove to the people in the land and the priests of Baal that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the One True God. It's beautifully comforting, just like the Holy Ghost. I admire Elijah's faith and courage. I love the invitation to "cast thy burden upon the Lord" - for surely that is what every human heart craves: the relief from burdens and pure joy that comes from the Savior.

What Sweeter Music

What Sweeter Music is my favorite Christmas carol on a lyrics basis, and in my top five on a music basis. I've been pondering its lyrics this past while, and I think they are some of the most beautiful and meaningful words I've read. Here are the lyrics:

What Sweeter Music by Robert Herrick
What sweeter music can we bring
Than a carol, for to sing
The birth of this our heavenly King?
Awake the voice! Awake the string!
Dark and dull night, fly hence away,
And give the honor to this day,
That sees December turned to May.
Why does the chilling winter’s morn
Smile, like a field beset with corn?
Or smell like a meadow newly-shorn,
Thus, on the sudden? Come and see
The cause, why things thus fragrant be:
‘Tis He is born, whose quickening birth
Gives life and luster, public mirth,
To heaven, and the under-earth.
We see him come, and know him ours,
Who, with his sunshine and his showers,
Turns all the patient ground to flowers.
The darling of the world is come,
And fit it is, we find a room
To welcome him. The nobler part
Of all the house here, is the heart.
Which we will give him; and bequeath
This holly, and this ivy wreath,
To do him honour, who’s our King,
And Lord of all this reveling.
What sweeter music can we bring,
Than a carol for to sing
The birth of this our heavenly King?

Some of my reflections on "What Sweeter Music"
"Awake the voice/the string" - the news of Christ not only moves us to song, but awakes our souls to joy we could not know without Christ
"Dark and dull nights fly hence away" - darkness cannot exists where there is light, and Christ brings light
"December turned to May" - Christ turns the darkest and coldest and most desolate of winters into the most blissful days of May and the barest of winters into fields beset with corn, just as He turned few loaves and fishes into food enough for the multitude.
"Life and luster public mirth" - Christ and the gospel give us the perspective to recognize the nothingness of worldly things, and Christmas affords us a rare occasion upon which people are united in their emphasis on godly things. This perspective is given not only to the living, but to the under-earth--that is, our dead.
"Thus on the sudden? Come and see" - the invitation to come and see echoes Christ's beckon to "come unto me, all ye that labor, and I will give you rest." We are also invited to see, by learning to perceive the spiritual things of the world and have the companionship of the Holy Ghost.
"Patient ground to flowers" - Christ turns plain ground to flowers, but we must be patient about it
"Nobler part of all the house here is the heart" - as wonderful as the human mind and body is, the noblest part of us is our hearts, and our hearts are the greatest thing we can give to our God.
"Lord of all this reveling" - God and Christ are the source of all true joy, which encompasses reveling, but reveling is poignant here because it emphasizes that communities rejoice together in the greatness of God.
"What sweeter music can we bring" (the second time) - even after we have sung this beautiful carol, we are left still yearning to express our gratitude for the joy and peace brought by Jesus Christ.

Mary, Did You Know?

I recently bought Aled Jones's Christmas album, and it was a fantastic decision. The first song on it is one I hadn't been fond of before, but now quite like because of Aled's delivery of it.

In my New Testament class, we talked about how mental it must have been for Mary to do all that she did, and it made me think of this song. I wonder what it's like to be the mother of a new baby and think of all the things that are going to happen to the little body that just separated from you. I think they've got to wonder what the little babies they've just had will do with the life they're working so hard still to give their children.

I was thinking about how young Mary was, too. We don't have a definitive age, but it seems likely that she was around 14. I think think that's poetic. It connects to Joseph Smith being just 14 when his divine mission began to be revealed. Joseph and Mary are similar in that from a young age, they were called of God to bring together Christ and the people of the Earth. Both Joseph and Mary have been vessels for truth and light, and both doubtless faced much persecution for their perceived wrongs.

There's no doctrine that says Mary was 14, or that 14 is some magical age, but I think that's okay. It's fine for us to think about things in ways that might not be totally accurate if it helps us to understand divine principles and doctrine. "All models are wrong, but some are useful." I believe that God speaks to us in ways we will best understand. For the literature nerd, the Lord has given wonderful symbolism in scripture to help us understand His truth. For the musician, He has given us hymns and songs of praise. For the scientist, He has left His mark upon every trace of the universe. For the pilot, He has given us President Uchtdorf.

God loves us. That's the only conclusion. God loves us more than mortal comprehension allows us to understand. And that's the best thing there is.