Sister Sheri Peterson
Ward Music Director
Join in with the congregational singing of this joyful hymn sung in the Conference Center during General Conference October 2013!
This hymn is simply an expression of the happiness that comes to a person who accepts & follows the teachings of Jesus Christ. Such expressions benefit us all; when we rejoice in the happiness that righteousness brings, we lift our own morale and encourage one another's good efforts. As we learn from the wisdom of Proverbs, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones." (Proverbs 17:22)
The joy of discipleship is difficult to express in words, and so the author of the text sought to make this joy more vivid through comparisons to things that naturally suggest pleasure and contentment: sunshine; music; and springtime.
This hymn was first printed in 1890 in a collection of gospel songs and entered Latter-Day Saint hymnody in 1908. The 1985 hymnal changed the first word of each line, "There's", to a more singable "There is". The larger typeface used in that hymnal also dictated the omission of the tenors' and basses' echoing phrases in the chorus; in order to keep this hymn to a single page in length, those lovely antiphonal phrases had to be dropped.