I’m a crooked stick. But, (paraphrasing Martin Luther) God can take a crooked stick and draw a straight line. It’s not the pencil or the brush that determines the beauty of the design. It’s the artist. And God is a great artist!
Now, we are fallen and flawed. We are all somewhat crooked and broken. That doesn’t mean that God wants to throw us away. Nor does it mean that we should rejoice in being broken or be pleased about our weakness. But we should rejoice in God who loves broken things—God who wants to take the weak things of this world and make them strong as He uses them to work His wonders. God wants to put His hand on you and me and take beauty to someone else’s soul.
This song felt very inspired…the initial doctrinal idea came from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland…and while I was working on the song, my little seven-year-old daughter, Eliza, came into the room and sat next to me on the piano bench, put her fingers on the keys and just started playing a little pattern of notes. It was simple, yet felt so out of the blue…Why would she just come in and assert herself to play like that, while I was writing?…it had never happened before. And she played this little pattern which I loved…and which I modified a tiny bit and turned into part of the melody for the chorus of the song. So I just had to give her songwriting credit. I feel like the Lord reached down through her little hand and gave the chorus musical direction. It was a very memorable experience.