DO YOU HAVE ROOM?

I wrote Do You Have Room? as a Christmas gift for my family, after reading these inspired words by Thomas S. Monson:

"In these busy days there are many who have time for golf, time for shopping, time for work, time for play—but no time for Christ. Lovely homes dot the land and provide rooms for eating, rooms for sleeping, playrooms, sewing rooms, television rooms, but no room for Christ. No room. No room. Ever has it been." 

I sang it to my family on Christmas Eve, then filed it away in my music drawer and forgot about it. It might still be there, if it weren’t for my Dad, who regularly asked me, “Have you done anything with that song?”

A few years later, just to make my dad happy, I had the sheet music officially published, and asked April Meservy, a talented performer and good friend, to sing it for me on this recording. I gave it out to a few friends, and other than that, the music was still entirely unknown. Until a few years ago. I started thinking about it again, and thinking about my dad, who was my first and biggest fan. He had passed away a couple of years earlier, and it was almost as if I could hear him saying, "Have you done anything with that song?"

So I did the craziest thing....I posted it on YouTube. At the time, I'd never posted anything on YouTube -- in fact, I'd hardly ever seen anything on YouTube. But I thought maybe a few people would be touched by the message, so I put it up there and sent the link to exactly 6 people -- our 5 children and my mom. I was reluctant to send it to anyone else, but my kids weren't. Within a few weeks, I was getting  emails from people all over the world, and from many different faiths and walks of life. They shared with me their stories of struggle and tragedy; of courage, hope, and triumph. I answered every email--it was the season of a thousand new friends.

I couldn't cover all the things I learned if I wrote about it all day, so for now, I'll just say this:  There IS room for Him -- in the hearts of good people everywhere. Thanks for listening, and thanks to Seth Adam Smith and Al Williams for your help on the project, and to JonMcNaughton, Liz Lemon Swindle, Joseph Brickey and Mark Mabry for your beautiful artwork.

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!

Shawna

#doyouhaveroom