Editor’s note: “The Spoken Word” is shared by Lloyd Newell each Sunday in the course of the weekly Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square broadcast. This was previously aired on Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023, and will probably be rebroadcast on Sunday, Feb. 18. Due to the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra’s tour, there won’t be live performances of “Music & the Spoken Word” on Feb. 18, Feb. 25 and March 3, and a past performance will probably be streamed.
The story is told of a person who was searching through his wife’s belongings shortly after she passed away. In her dresser, he found a really nice piece of clothing that she had bought on a visit a few years earlier. He realized that she had never worn it; she was saving it for an important day. And now it was too late.
Later, the husband shared this experience with a friend, adding this recommendation: “Don’t save something just for an important day. Every day in your life is an important day.”
Those words modified his friend’s life. She said: “Now I spend more time with my family. I exploit crystal glasses every single day. I’ll wear latest clothes to go to the supermarket if I feel prefer it. The words ‘someday’ and ‘in the future’ 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 members of the family how much I really like them. I try to not delay or postpone anything that would bring laughter and joy into our lives. And each morning, I say to myself that this could possibly be a big day. Each day, each hour, each minute, is special” (see “In Search of Treasure,” by President Thomas S. Monson, Ensign or Liahona, May 2003).
So a lot of our days — with their humdrum, their pressures, and their demands — don’t seem particularly special. But the very fact is that life itself is miraculous and marvelous; it’s, in a word, special. That doesn’t mean every single day is all the time sunny and sparkling. We all have hard days and challenges, a few of them ongoing. But it’s also true that every single day has something, some little thing, that makes the day special: a bit of gorgeous music, the sound of a bird, a cool breeze on a hot day, the thoughtfulness of a friend. Usually the little things are the large things.
In waiting for an important day, we’d miss the numerous special occasions happening every single day. So what if as a substitute of postponing life we lived every day as a present? After all, the indisputable fact that God has given us one other day of life is unquestionably cause to have fun.
Tuning in …
The “Music & the Spoken Word” broadcast is obtainable on KSL-TV, KSL News Radio 1160AM/102.7FM, KSL.com, BYUtv, BYUradio, Dish and DirecTV, SiriusXM (Ch. 143), tabernaclechoir.org, youtube.com/TheTabernacleChoir and Amazon Alexa (must enable skill). The program is aired continue to exist Sundays at 9:30 a.m. Mountain Time on these outlets. Look up broadcast information by state and city at musicandthespokenword.com/viewers-listeners/airing-schedules.
