Writing "For Time and For Eternity"

Early in the morning on October 19, 2009 I was studying for my next lesson in Relief Society. I teach the even numbered lessons from the Joseph Smith manual and was working on lesson #42: Family: The Sweetest Union for Time and for Eternity. I was doing my standard quick read-through; not marking anything, not taking notes, not making an outline of any kind, just reading through to get the lesson material in my brain to mull over.

As I was reading I came to the end of a sentence and the Spirit said to me: "That rhymes." Definitely the strangest thing the Spirit had ever said to me. "What?" I questioned, thinking that maybe studying at 4am really wasn't that great of an idea after all. "That rhymes," the Spirit repeated. My eyes went in reverse back to the beginning of the sentence I had just read. I read it again. "May the God that I love look down from above and save me from my enemies here, and take me by the hand that on Mount Zion I may stand, and with my father crown me eternally there." Good heavens! It does rhyme! Joseph Smith just "happened" to say something that came out in perfect rhyme form. How about that? Well, that's nice. On I go reading...

The Spirit stopped me again. "So just put it to music." I don't like where this is headed. My eyes went back to the beginning of the sentence again. When I read it the third time I could hear the music in my mind. It was so beautiful!!

For the next few weeks I worked constantly to comb through Joseph Smith's words. I pieced them together to create verses to go along with the already-inspired chorus. In the final hours my baby sister agreed to sing with me. We turned it into a duet and the three of us sisters performed it together (one of my sisters accompanied us). It went really well!

This song is much more complex than my previous songs (musically speaking). I really love the sound and the melody!

It was such a blessing to write this song. I have always said that I don't write music...I write it down. That has never been more true than with "For Time and For Eternity."