It’s been over 25 years since I wrote my song, "The Law of the Harvest," and 20 years since my two books, "By Small and Simple Things" and "Out of Small Things," were published. All three of these products are now out of print and not available for sale anymore. However, thanks to the miracle of technology they are now available here on my blog for FREE. (See side bar for instruction on how to download.)
Yesterday I realized that through the years I had verbally shared the story of how this song came to be, but I had never written it down. So while I am still alive and kicking, I want to preserve this story for my posterity.
I firmly believe that the Lord has given all of us talents
and for some of us, we have to look harder to find them than others and when
we find them, we need to have faith that we will be able to enlarge them. This is how I felt about a phrase in my patriarchal blessing where it said that I could be successful in a musical
career if I so desired. That statement
has been something that has bothered me, as well as inspired me throughout the
years.
When my mother was a girl she learned how to play the saxophone
and she loved it. So therefore, each of my siblings was given that same opportunity to play it whether we wanted to or not. :-) I ended up playing the sax for over 8 years, and I believe that is
where I was able to learn the basics of music. I was also able to take 3 months
of piano lessons and with the help of the Holy Ghost, was inspired to write
my first song.
In late 1989, a wonderful woman named Linda Leavitt
(Hartmann) came to live with us. She had grown
up with my sister-in-law, Debbie Garvin and when we met, we felt like we had
been kindred spirits our whole lives.
Linda is a beautiful musician and has written over 100 songs and
continues to bless the lives of thousands through her music.
One day when I was talking to Linda, I told her about my
patriarchal blessing and some of my feelings about writing a song and how
inadequate I felt. She turned to me and
said, “Michele, you can write I song!” I
laughed and then she said, “No really, anyone can write a song if it’s what the
Lord wants.”
We talked for while and I told her how I hated poetry and
felt like music was basically poetry put to song. She listened for a while and then she turned
to me and handed me a red, heart shaped pillow. She told me to clear my mind for a few
minutes and then start writing the first thoughts that came to my mind as I looked
at that pillow. She reminded me again
that it doesn't have to make sense or even rhyme, this was just an exercise to
help get the creative juices flowing and get me from point a to point b. I decided to try what she suggested and so I took
the pillow and stared at it and nothing came.
Yep – I knew it! I knew I wasn't
any good at this type of thing! I sat
there for another minute and decided to give it one more time, well at least more
than just 15 seconds.
When Linda had first handed me the heart shaped pillow, it had immediately
reminded me of my Grandma Tenney (Myrtle Mary Wear Tenney). I sat there for a
while and then started writing the next thoughts I had. “The
heart that beats and leads us…” The words didn't really make sense, but as
I thought more about my grandma and her wonderful life of service, I couldn't help
but parallel her example to that of the Saviors’. The next phrase that came into my mind blew me
away. “The Law of the Harvest is always the key, when ye do it to one of the
least of these ye have done it unto me.”
When I read those words again, I felt something surge through
me. It was a familiar feeling and I
quickly recognized it as the spirit! It
was as if the Lord was saying, “Come on Michele, you can do it, stretch a little and trust me!” I sat for a few more minutes basking in what
I was feeling. Then I heard
something. It was a beautiful melody
that was being placed into my mind and I knew that it was coming from the
Lord! I turned to Linda and shared the
words that had just come to me. We both
felt the spirit. It was a very special
feeling. I then explained to her that I
was even having a melody come into my mind and I knew it was from the Lord and
I didn't want to lose it. So I left her
room and ran upstairs, found my ghetto blaster tape recorder and put in a blank
cassette tape. Before I went any
further, I knelt down and prayed. I thanked my Heavenly Father that I was feeling “something” and I pleaded for his help to know how to understand what to do with it.. I
promised to be a vessel in his hands if this was something that would make a
difference in others lives.
During the next hour I felt like I was being tutored by the
Holy Ghost, (Heavenly Father’s special messenger). I was afraid of losing the melody that had just been given to me, so I quickly pushed ‘record’
on the tape player and started humming the melody I was hearing. "dah, dah, dah,
daaahha,, etc". When I heard the melody
go up, I would have my voice go up and so on. It doesn't
make sense as I try and describe it now, but it did when I was experiencing i and it was the only way I could figure out how to record it.
Now the next thing I had to figure out was how to get it off
my tape recorder and onto paper. I've
never owned a piece of blank sheet music, so I just grabbed the big penmanship paper
I used to teach my kids how to write on. I rewound the tape and pushed play and
started listening to what I had just hummed. When I heard the note
go high, I would draw a high note and then if the melody went down I would draw it down. Every now and then I would get fancy and
decide to draw a line on one of the notes at the top, not realizing that that changed the count and how long to hold that note. Then I
tried breaking it down into smaller measures, which wasn't working at all. At this point I didn't care how many beats I put in a measure, I just wanted to
“preserve” what I was hearing right then, before I lost it all.
During this same time, our baby daughter Tauna was 6 months old and I was
still nursing her during the night. When
she would wake up during the night, it provided a quiet environment for me to listen to the spirit in this special setting. Over the course of the next few nights, the
words to all 3 verses were given to me through the power of the Holy Ghost. I quickly learned to have a notebook and paper
next to the side of my rocking chair.
Later, I sat down at the piano and tried to PLAY what the
Lord had given to me, but it was harder than I thought. Just because I had been blessed with an “ear”
for music, didn't make me a musician! So
many times I could hear things in my mind but wasn't quite sure what the note was. So when that would happen, I would play the
note that I heard and then look down at the piano.
If my finger played a B , then I would name that my own special B-Chord, as well as G or D chord. Talk about using desperate
measures to get a song from my heart, to my head, to my fingers and
finally to the paper. I soon learned that the Holy Ghost is willing and patient to work with any and all talent we have, if we will listen to Him.
Several days had gone by and I had tried sitting at the
piano and making some sense of what I heard. After going through this exercise for a
while and getting more and more frustrated, I decided to try and play it for Linda. She listened so patiently while as I basically butchered the song, trying to use my own made
up chords. After a while I invited Linda to try and see if she could make heads or tails of
what I was trying to do. We traded places
and she sat down at the piano and her fingers took over and played the most
beautiful version of the Law of the Harvest I have ever heard. I'm pretty sure I must have screamed or jumped up
and down with joy, because I remember hugging her and saying, “YES, Yes, Linda – that’s
it!!!”
One of my heartaches I've felt over the years is that I didn't how to publically acknowledge the integral part Linda had in helping me write and produce this song. If I could go
back and reprint my sheet music, it would say in BOLD letters, “Arranged by
LINDA KAY LEAVITT.” Linda said that she doesn't need the acknowledgement, but I feel like I need to give it to her. So here I am finally telling
the world 25 years later that without the help of the Holy Ghost and my sweet friend Linda Leavitt,
this song would have never come to pass.
MY LIFE HAS BEEN CHANGED FOREVER - THROUGH MY SONGS AND MY BOOKS,
Because of this unique chance in sharing this special song with others, it has given me the opportunity to begin speaking throughout the church and sharing some of the other talents the Lord has given me such as TEACHING! For the next 10
years I was able to testify and share my testimony in many
stakes throughout church. What a
precious experience this has been for me!
When I was asked to speak, I would share some of these faith promoting
stories that caused me to write the words to my song; and without fail, people would
come up later and want to add some of their special experiences they had been given to them. As I began compiling my first book of true life stories on service, I found this process interesting and sad
at the same time. As people would tell me their stories, I would ask them if they had written them down and shared them with their posterity. The answer to that question was NO almost 90% of
the time! It was then that I realized
another part of my mission in writing these books was to help preserve the
sacred events of others who had not left a written record.
READ A STORY FROM ONE OF MICHELE'S OUT OF PRINT BOOKS RIGHT HERE!
Go to the right sight of this blog and click watever book cover, "By Small and Simple Things," or Out of Small Things," you want to read. The table of contents will open up to that specific book and you can chose a story to read that is listed in that book.
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