Sunday, I was able to attend a performance of Handel's "Messiah" with a friend of mine. Elder M. Russel Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was there and gave a short talk. After the event, trying to get back to the refreshments, I got caught behind a few elderly people and while I waited to get past, I realized that Elder Ballard was the man right in front of me. At the moment I realized that, he turned around, smiled and shook my hand! I was in shock! He's a lot shorter than he looks during General Conference-- I'm talking a good half a head shorter than me. There's just such a great spirit about the Twelve and you can just feel that they are amazing men.
I was so glad to be able to listen to "The Messiah" because I had actually been thinking that I needed to find a place where it was being performed since I haven't heard it since moving to Utah. As a teenager in Florida, my stake did it every year, and I actually sang in it my last couple of years in high school (back when I'd sing in choirs). I love it! As I listened to the beautiful choir and orchestra, I thought about the feeling I had when seeing Handle's grave marker in Westminster Abbey in London. In his stone is the inscription, "I know that my Redeemer liveth" which I felt was a great tribute to his work and the obvious testimony he had of the Savior and His importance to us.
I also thought about my mom and how she always bursts into song whenever any of the scriptures from "The Messiah" are mentioned. We've spent many a Christmas Eve in song as we sing through the "Christmas" scriptures. Maybe that makes us nerds, but what a great Christmas memory!
2 comments:
That's so awesome! Sounds like it was a great performance.
I'm so glad that that evening worked out. I forgot about the inscription, but I remembered that we had seen his grave. Such memories!
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