Small and Simple Things
SMALL AND SIMPLE THINGS:
This song comes from Alma 36-37. In this section of the Book of Mormon, Alma is writing letters to his sons. These chapters represent his letter to his oldest son, Helaman who later took up the mantle as prophet among the people of Nephi.
Alma had three sons to whom he wrote letters. All of his letters contain some great words of wisdom and each one could've made a great song. As Alma is the largest book in the Book of Mormon and contains much of his own words as he preached among the Nephites, I had to be selective. At this point in the project, I also noticed that I didn't repeat any teachings, guidance, or doctrine except that Jesus saves (which is the basic principle of all Christian scripture) and a call to repent (which I was surprised to hear repeatedly in my songs after I was halfway through this project). To help me narrow down what I would turn into a song, I decided that I would make that my intention (prior to this moment, it just happened).
What would Alma teach his most valiant son? What is the most important thing that he could tell his boy who would soon take up the mantle as prophet? He recounts his own rebellion against God and the awful hell he experienced prior to accepting Christ in his heart. Alma encourages him to obey the commandments of God. Then he tells Helaman to make sure the "plates" (scriptures) retain their sheen. About this, he says, "Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls."
It was the end of Alma's life. He was about to be taken up into heaven as Moses before crossing the river Jordan. I visualized Alma as an old man, softened by the trials in his life and filled with the love of a father toward his son. This still needed to feel like an NF-style rap, but I wanted to slow it down a lot. To make this work, I returned to some of the prompts I used for his father, Alma, at the Waters of Mormon (see The Waters are Calling), but I took out all references to jazz and related instruments. This one also took many iterations before I finally settled on something I liked. But when it worked, I knew this would be the track I'd use.
