Inspiration for the song, Oh, Behold Your Little Ones, came suddenly and out of the blue.
In the fall of 2018, while in the middle of writing some hymns and children’s songs to submit to my church for consideration into our worldwide hymnal and children’s songbook, I suddenly awoke really early one morning with the image in my mind of the moment the Savior visits the Nephites in the Americas after he is crucified and resurrected in Jerusalem. The story is found in The Book of Mormon.
It is a well-known story to members of my church, and really the poignant moment of the whole book. Along with teaching and healing the people, the Savior calls all the children to come to him. He blesses them and then says to the group, “Behold, your little ones” – a phrase long since attributed to children and the title of our church’s teaching manual for our youngest.
3 Nephi 17:21-23
21 And when he had said these words, he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.
22 And when he had done this he wept again;
23 And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones.
But, this morning something felt amiss as I re-read that passage. Why would the Savior say this phrase AFTER gathering and blessing the children when everyone was most likely already intently watching? Was he even talking about them? Then the real kicker came when I realized how the audience responded to his request.
3 Nephi 17:24
24 And as they looked to behold, they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; …”
When they went to obey their Savior to “behold their little ones,” they looked up and beheld angels coming to earth … His phrase now seemed to be more like an introduction of those angels. And I thought, “Huh, could those angels have been pre-mortal spirits specifically?” Now, I don’t know the answer to that, but what I can say was that I was left with these questions:
After having all these thoughts, I knew I needed to write a hymn about the sacredness of children that included ALL our “little ones” – both those children already on the earth, as well as those yet to come. I scoured The New Testament and The Book of Mormon for anything and everything the Savior said on children and within 1 hour the first two verses of the song were complete.
