Lay Hold Upon Every Good Thing – Poem and Hymn

This poem was written by James Russel Smith on April 11, 1999.
Inspiration for the poem came from Moroni Chapter 7, and particularly Moroni 7:19.

Lay hold upon every good thing,
A child of Christ I will be.
Lay hold upon every good thing,
As I show strong faith Lord in thee.

Lay hold upon every good thing,
When the word of the Lord I heard.
Lay hold upon every good thing,
Follow the Lord, my Good Shepherd.

Lay hold upon every good thing,
By denying things ungodly.
Lay hold upon every good thing,
Born of Christ, fruit of the good tree.

Lay hold upon every good thing,
Through tribulation, toil, and strife.
Lay hold upon every good thing,
The source? Picked from the tree of life.

Lay hold upon every good thing,
In spite of Satan’s temptation.
Lay hold upon every good thing,
That I might gain exaltation.

Lay hold upon every good thing,
As hope in Christ, I exercise.
Lay hold upon every good thing,
God’s loving hand I recognize.

Background on the Poem

I was a returned missionary in a BYU ward in Spring of 1999, and during sacrament meeting one Sunday, a speaker mentioned Moroni 7:19 which reads:

“Wherefore, I beseech of you, brethren, that ye should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ.”

The phrase “lay hold upon every good thing” resonated in my mind and I immediately pulled out a note pad and pencil and began writing the poem. The words came to me relatively rapidly, and I tried to capture them as the Spirit of the Lord dictated them. From the beginning, I felt as if the poem would make a good Church hymn. However, I am not musically inclined, so perhaps someday, someone who is talented with music can make a nice hymn out of it.

Update September 2026 – AI Composed Music to Turn It Into a Hymn

With encouragement from my daughter, I decided to put the poem into an AI music generator to turn it into a traditional LDS Church hymn. Here is the result. Not too bad.