I know, I know. It’s only September… and Christmas is still more than 3 months away.
BUT…
If you’re involved in a ward or stake choir, or any type of choir, especially if you are the choir director, you MAY be starting to look for Christmas music to start practicing for the Christmas season!
Might I offer up “Oh Little Child” as an option? I composed it last year around the end of October, but by the time I released it, many choir directors were well into their Christmas rehearsal season. So this year, I wanted to remind everyone early!
It is written for SATB choir and has a flute or violin solo in the middle. It is a beautiful song that talks about the Savior from the point of view of Mary, and then Joseph, and then Heavenly Father, at different times in the Savior’s life.
I hope that with it, you can bring the spirit into your wards during the Christmas season to remind us all of the significance or our Savior’s birth, His mission, and His infinite Atonement.
I hope you’re as excited as this guy!
Here’s to an early Merry Christmas!
You can find “Oh Little Child” under the music tab, or click here.
To see my original post about this song, click here.
To see a video of my old high school choir performing this song, click here.
You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel here.
*Please note: I do not sing soprano… so the recording above is just me singing in the tenor range. *
In the time of my short existence here on earth, I have often pondered on the reality of a Savior. A Being that I can’t see, yet I believe in. An older brother that I have who knows me and loves me in a way I’ll never comprehend. A God among men that came to earth so humbly, yet lived such a miraculous life. A lowly Carpenter who became a Prophet. A Teacher, so influential that thousands of years later, His teachings still resonate with us. The Creator of this world and countless others, under the direction of our Father, constructing the cosmos and devising all of the unfathomable physical and scientific elements therein. A Friend that helps you individually, and can touch you to your very soul.
A Being. A Brother. A God. A Carpenter. A Prophet. A Teacher. A Creator. A Friend.
The scriptures have many more names for Him. It’s almost too much to grasp the entire concept of who He is and what He has done. It can be overwhelming.
A few years ago, I was tinkering around on our old and slightly out-of-tune piano, and a melody came into my mind. I had been wanting to write a song about the Savior. I had just been called to a seminary teaching calling (a class where I taught the scriptures to high school kids) and was trying to up my scripture study habits in an effort to feel better prepared for it. There were, and still are, so many things I don’t understand about the scriptures, how could I possibly teach someone else?
All of these thoughts of the Savior had been on the forefront of my mind, and they were building up inside, as if they were looking for a way out. I couldn’t keep these thoughts and emotions in my head anymore, and had to get them out through my heart. This song, The Savior of Mankind, is what came out.
If you’ve ever been associated with members of the LDS church, or attended one of their meetings, you may have heard the word “testimony.” Within the context of the LDS church, a testimony is a personal declaration of what you, as an individual, believe. You can have a testimony of a variety of topics, whether it be family, or the scriptures, or faith, or friends. Whatever ideas or concepts you can attest to as something you believe in or know to be true, that is your testimony. I believe that the most important thing to have a testimony of, however, is our Savior.
That’s what this song came to be. My testimony of who the Savior is, and what He means to me. It’s not complicated, and doesn’t need to be. I know that I won’t understand everything in this life, and I certainly don’t expect to. I would drive myself crazy if I thought I had to understand absolutely everything before I believed in it. There are many questions I don’t have answers to, concepts I cannot grasp, and ideas I can’t fathom. There are a thousand reasons why I could doubt what I believe, a thousand excuses to not believe. But my faith surpasses all of those reasons, all of those excuses. Some may call this blind faith, but I disagree. Not having the full picture is not the same as being blind. I don’t know that there is anybody on earth who has the full picture. Who has it all figured out. 100% complete. There is a reason that our Savior taught us to become like little children. I have my own children. They are humble, honest, and pure. They trust me as their parent that I love them and I’m watching out for them. They don’t need to understand everything, they just have a simple, pure faith in their parents.
Of course we all grow up, and that simple, pure faith… it fades. We realize we have more choices. We can’t rely on our parents and what they believe anymore, we have to figure out what we believe for ourselves, and make our own choices. For me, I feel the burden of my own choices every day. Despite what I believe, I still struggle with my own weaknesses, and I still have my own doubts.
Weaknesses and doubts can bring with it a lot of sorrow. I know, I’ve been there. Often I feel engulfed in my own mistakes and wrongs. In those moments especially, I know I have felt so small, and so unworthy of any sort of love from my Savior. Why would He love someone who continues to make the same mistakes over and over again? What does He have to gain from a relationship where He is so perfect, and I am so weak? Why would He waste His time with someone like me?
One of the blessings of being a parent is a greater understanding of the love you have for your children. I love them unconditionally. I love them no matter what mistakes they’ve made, or will make. There is nothing they could ever do that would change that. And because I know that I feel that way, I know that my Savior feels the same about me. It keeps me going. It pulls me out of my dark places, and lifts the burdens I feel.
Our Savior has literally and spiritually sacrificed everything for us. I will never understand it, but I can have faith in it. I believe in Him. I love Him. And in return, I’ll strive to sacrifice what I can for Him. It won’t amount to very much, comparatively speaking. But as long as it’s the best I can do, He will make up the difference.
11 years ago, I was a missionary for the LDS church living in Guayaquil, Ecuador and I drew this picture:
I’ve never really considered myself much of an artist, but I drew this in the limited free time I had as an outlet for how I was feeling about my Savior at the time: Anxious and excited to see Him again some day. It took me almost 2 months to sketch. But I looked forward to it every week. I had no end date in mind, I just wanted to make it as perfect and as detailed as I could. Over time, it became a powerful and uplifting experience for me to work on it. It helped me strengthen my own testimony and faith in my Savior. To imagine Him, in that moment, reaching out to me with the marks in his hands, and to try depict it, was a unique and fulfilling experience. I don’t know what my face will look like in that moment, but I hope it’s a face of one thrilled to see my Friend again. A lot has happened in the 11 years since I drew this picture, but I can say I still feel anxious and excited for the moment when I will meet my Savior and He embraces me and tells me that He loves me.
He is my Savior. I believe in Him and I love Him.
Please take an opportunity to listen to this song, which is my testimony of the Savior:
After a few months of not posting, I just wanted to let everyone know I’M BACK! And I’ve got a new completely re-done, new and improved website to prove it!!!!
Just because I haven’t posted in a while DOESN’T mean I haven’t been writing music! I’ve been writing like crazy! And I am OVERSTOCKED on music! And I’m passing it all on to YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!
Which means I need to start posting again! I’ve re-vamped a few songs, and posted a few new ones, but there are plenty more to come!
Are you excited?!?!?! I AM!
If you follow me on instagram (@michae8), every now and then I post snidbits of upcoming songs, or songs in the works. So watch for those! Also… I post a lot of pictures of my kids. Cuz… they’re cute and that’s what instagram is for. Seriously, if you’re not following me, you’re missing out!!! Also you could follow me on twitter @mikeybyu
So, if you want to be the FIRST ONES to know about any new music released, or blog posts, then just enter your e-mail on the HOME page (bottom right) and you’ll be notified as soon as it’s posted!
One of the best new features of my new site is you can download everything I upload! I have audio and sheet music links on my music page. Just click the links and it takes you where you can download them. It’s SUPER EASY! (Thanks to www.gumroad.com seriously an AWESOME site).
So take some time to click some things around on the site. See what Michael Christensen Media is all about. Go to the contact page if you have any questions for me. I’d love to hear from you!
Wait what? What am I talking about? It’s a piece of cake for you? Well, that’s great for you, freak couples. But for the rest of the world, sometimes it ain’t easy.
For those that may be reading this and are un-married, replace the word “marriage” with “relationships,” because marriage is a type of relationship after all.
I’m not planning on diving deep into my own personal marital struggles here, but I just wanted to share a few thoughts that resulted in a song I recently wrote. Now I certainly don’t claim to be any expert on marriage. I’m just a guy that’s been married for 9 years, which is not long at all from an eternal perspective. But at the same time, it’s pretty hard to believe it’s been that long already. And I’ve got so much more to learn.
There are a million reasons why marriage and relationships can struggle. Personality differences, goal differences, family-of-origin differences, misunderstandings, communication errors, innate men and women physical brain differences (hilarious), financial conflicts, children conflicts, trust issues, habits, how he does the dishes, how you do the dishes, why doing the dishes my way is better, why do you shove all of the dishes to one side of the sink and pile them a mile high and leave sticky pots and pans out to “soak” but only fill it up halfway causing me to have to spend 15 minutes scrubbing the top half of each pot when it could have just been filled to the top to soak and I wouldn’t spend so much time doing dishes…..
Ok, got a little carried away there. But for those of you that are married, or in any sort of relationship, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Not too long ago, I overheard a friend say that she and her husband were having some marital struggles that started to result in some “heated discussions” at home. With disbelief in her face and fear in her voice, she said, “I got so worried that something was wrong with us and we might have to start going to counseling!” This idea seemed to terrify her, as if it was the worst thing that could happen to her and her husband. At the time, I didn’t say anything. But if I could say something now, it would be, “So what? What’s wrong with counseling? That’s what it’s there for, to help.” Just because couples go to counseling does not mean there is something wrong with them. It just means they love and care enough about each other to reach out to someone who can not only help heal or mend their relationship, but make it stronger than it could ever be on it’s own.
But I share that story simply to say that there seems to be a pressure out there in the world to be perfect. And if there is the slightest sign that you’re not perfect, or that there is some sign of struggle, everyone around you will judge you (And most likely, they are, because everyone judges a little too quickly and I’ve just learned not to care so much about what others think of me). Most people in a relationship, marital or other, are struggling in some way.
I think we need to learn to overcome this idea that it’s a bad thing to have relationship struggles. That something is wrong. That everyone else seems so happy and you seem to be the only ones that struggle with this or that.
If you’re struggling in your marriage, or whatever relationship you are in, I say you’re doing something right. Is that too bold? I don’t think so. As long as you can keep your head up and your eyes forward, bring the struggles on.
My song, Something Will Change, is about how to accept and deal with the struggles we all face in our marriages or in our relationships in a positive way. It’s speaks of how to broaden our perspective beyond whatever issue might be right in front of our face at the moment, and keep ourselves focused on where we’re going, what we’re learning, why we love our spouse (or partner), and why that is more important than any struggle you may have.
Someone once said, “Never let a problem to be solved be more important than the person to be loved.”
It may sound cliche, and is much easier said than done, but more than anything I think it’s important to always try to remain positive. Nothing can tear us down quicker than ourselves. Our own attitude can be the determining factor on how much we choose to suffer.
As a wise man and prophet once said, “Carry on. Things will work out. If you keep trying and praying and working, things will work out. They always do. If you want to die at an early age, dwell on the negative. Accentuate the positive, and you’ll be around for a while.” (Gordon B. Hinckley, Go Forward with Faith, pg. 423)
Now it may not work out the way you think, or how you had planned your life. But it will work out. Whatever struggles you may be going through, no matter how severe, know that it will work out. In the end, it will all be alright.
Here is the song:
And here are the lyrics:
“Some people say,
There is no other way,
I’m holding on to feelings I can’t hide,
And I’ve been thinking,
We still don’t understand,
That love is so much older than we are
So who could say we might not hear it,
And who could say we can,
And how many times it takes us,
All depends on where we stand
(Chorus)
Something will change,
Something works out,
Something remains from the screams and shouts,
Some kind of tears,
Stick to our skin,
Some kind of love comes from the outside in,
Some people will say,
If you’re not the same,
Something is wrong,
And push you away,
Sometimes the pain,
Collides with the doubt,
But healing takes place,
From the inside out.
The color of the leaves in autumn,
Although they soon will die,
Create kaleidoscopes of curling lights,
And covered by the cloak of snow they,
Rest and take their time,
Returning when there’s warmth and welcome light,
Who’s to say their time is over,
Just because we cannot see,
The strength of lifelong love
Lies living waiting patiently
(Chorus)
Come away with me,
This lonely island I’ve made stay will sink,
Climb horizons full of light,
Making dark turn into night,
Where the price of being kind is free
(Chorus)
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About a month ago, I pulled out my guitar from our closet, dusted it off, tuned it up, and started playing it for my kids. It had been sitting in my closet for an entire year, and I was tired of seeing it tucked away underneath my dress shirts, wondering when I would have time to play it.
For this past month I have left the guitar in my living room and in sight, instead of hidden away. As a result, it’s always within arms reach, and the calluses are back on my fingers as I’m writing music again with my guitar.
I wish I had done this all last year. A few songs have been in the works, but one stands out as my favorite among the others. It’s called “One Step Closer.”
If you’re a parent, more than likely before you go to bed, you check on your children as they sleep quietly in their beds. It’s one of my favorite moments with my children. And not just because it’s one of the few times they are quiet… There is such a feeling of peace watching one of your little ones sleep.
It’s difficult to describe, and I often take some time to ponder in that moment. I think about their day and what they did. I think about their personal progression with their behavior, their interests, their problems, their joys. They are experiencing life in such an interesting way, living with grown ups who maybe don’t understand them or get frustrated at them, and then turn around and embrace them and love them. Most days they seem to go up and down in their emotions so quickly and frequently. They go from happy and dancing one minute, to crying and screaming the next. Being told “no” as they experiment and push their limits. Being rewarded for good behavior. Forgiving quickly and loving you even when they are sad or mad at you. While we as adults may have more experience on this earth, children certainly understand how to approach life better than we do. Finding joy in the simplest things, and loving unconditionally.
These are some of the things I ponder as I watch my children sleep. Especially my daughter Zoe, our oldest child. She has spent the most time with us, and every day she learns so much, makes me laugh, and amazes me. As I watch her sleep, I think about her future and who she will become. I feel like she can do anything. I want her to do EVERYTHING. I want her to share what she has with the world, because I feel like she has so much to offer. I often wonder what she dreams about at night, and if she can hear me whispering to her that I love her, or feel the gentle kiss I give her. Maybe not, but I like to imagine she can.
And I know it seems far away, but one day I won’t be able to go in at night and check on her while she sleeps. I will miss that.
But for now, every time I go in and say goodnight, at the end of a lovely day, I feel that I have taken one step closer to her heart, and her to mine.
I wrote the lyrics to this song with Zoe, meaning that I wrote a lot of different lyrics and asked her to choose which ones she liked. This is what we decided on in the end:
“Come along with me,
It’s time to sleep,
At the end of a lovely day,
The silent lights,
Are a sanctuary,
For my soul is at peace away,
As your quiet sigh calms the troubled world,
The stillness it brings to me,
Takes me one step closer to your heart,
Nothing is in our way,
Some day we’ll be miles apart,
Dreaming of yesterday,
Take in this moment,
My love is here to stay,
Come along with me,
As I fall asleep,
At the end of a lovely day,
Even in my dreams,
I can hear you speaking to me,
As you kiss my face,
I know that you care and I am loved,
Each word that I feel you say,
Takes me one step closer to your heart,
Nothing is in our way,
Some day we’ll be miles apart,
Dreaming of yesterday,
Take in this moment,
My love is here to stay,
Even if I fall asleep and you’re away,
I can keep you in my dreams, each word you say
Takes me one step closer to your heart,
Nothing is in our way,
Some day we’ll be miles apart,
Dreaming of yesterday,
Take in this moment,
My love is here to stay,
Mikey He Writes It 