Music
Conductor: Mack Wilberg
Organist: Andrew Unsworth
Announcer: Lloyd D. Newell
“I Think the World Is Glorious”1
Music: Alexander Schreiner
Lyrics: Anna Johnson
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg
“This Little Light of Mine”
African American spiritual
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg
“Trumpet Tune in Seven”
(organ solo)
Music: James C. Kasen
“Glory to God on High”
Music: Felice de Giardini
Lyrics: James Allen
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg
“Come to My Garden,” from The Secret Garden
2
Music: Lucy Simon
Lyrics: Marsha Norman
Arrangement: Kurt Bestor
“Look at the World”
Music and lyrics: John Rutter
“Redeemer of Israel”3
Music: Freeman Lewis
Lyrics: Joseph Swain; adapted by William W. Phelps
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg
- From the albums Teach Me to Walk in the Light and America the Beautiful.
- From the album Showtime.
- From the albums Come, Come Ye Saints and Called to Serve.
The Spoken Word
Each Day Is a Special Day
October 8, 2023
By Lloyd D. Newell
The story is told of a man who was looking through his wife’s belongings shortly after she passed away. In her dresser, he found a very nice piece of clothing that she had bought on a trip many years earlier. He realized that she had never worn it; she was saving it for a special occasion. And now it was too late.
Later, the husband shared this experience with a friend, adding this advice: “Don’t save something only for a special occasion. Every day in your life is a special occasion.”
Those words changed his friend’s life. She said: “Now I spend more time with my family. I use crystal glasses every day. I’ll wear new clothes to go to the supermarket if I feel like it. The words ‘someday’ and ‘one day’ are fading from my vocabulary. Now I take the time to call my relatives and closest friends. I’ve called old friends to make peace over past quarrels. I tell my family members how much I love them. I try not to delay or postpone anything that could bring laughter and joy into our lives. And each morning, I say to myself that this could be a special day. Each day, each hour, each minute, is special.”1
So many of our days—with their humdrum, their pressures, and their demands—don’t seem particularly special. But the fact is that life itself is miraculous and marvelous; it is, in a word, special. That doesn’t mean every day is always sunny and sparkling. We all have hard days and challenges, some of them ongoing. But it’s also true that every day has something, some little thing, that makes the day special: a bit of beautiful music, the sound of a bird, a cool breeze on a hot day, the thoughtfulness of a friend. Usually the little things are the big things.
In waiting for a special occasion, we might miss the many special occasions happening every day. So what if instead of postponing life we lived each day as a gift? After all, the fact that God has given us another day of life is surely cause to celebrate.
- In Thomas S. Monson, “In Search of Treasure,” Ensign or Liahona , May 2003, 21.