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An Instrument in His Hand
I was asked to present an evening of music and inspiration for the Relief Society in our ward. I was told that the theme for the year has been “An instrument in His hands” and I was basically told that I could extend that to as broad a scope as I desired. I had some songs in mind, but really nothing that specifically dealt with the assigned theme. So I decided I would try to create one.
That was not as easy as it sounded. I turned to some lyrics that my mother had written years before that a friend took and put to music to create a song called “I Have No Hands But Thine.” That is a beautiful song, but one that I found difficult to play and perform. With Mom’s permission, I took some of her words, altered some others and threw in some of my own. By the time I performed it for the Relief Society in May 2007 this piece was almost like a 3-act musical with a couple verses from “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief” mixed in – it almost needed its own intermission – in other words, it was too long. But I think the evening turned out very well as a whole.
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| go and reap what He gave His life to sow... |
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The message of this song was good and I did not want to just discard it, so between then and the time I recorded it, I simply cut it way back and only referenced A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief with a little interlude melody at the end. I wasn’t sure how the recording session would go with this one, but I felt that the result was very gratifying.
In the years since, I have found that this song has great application for missionary themes. I have more recently performed it replacing the words in the second verse with "if I have desires to serve on high, I am called to His work below..."
I hope that we can strive to “make holy places where we stand and be an instrument in His hand”.
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An Instrument in His Hand
Words by Michael Squires & JoAnn Squires; Music by Michael Squires
How can I help the Lord today,
To fulfill His eternal plan?
What path should I follow that I might be
An instrument in His hands?
He has no hands but ours, His friends,
To do His work below.
He needs us now to go and reap
What He gave His life to sow.
Who will sooth the fevered brow?
Or give strength to a weakened soul?
Who will lift the lame to walk?
Or take a shattered life and make it whole?
Lord, give me strength that I might make
Holy places where I stand.
Help me to see by Thy guiding light,
And be an instrument in Thy hand.
How can I help the Lord today,
To fulfill His eternal plan?
What path should I follow that I might be
An instrument in His hands?
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