Does the Journey Seem Long?
127

Text: Joseph Fielding Smith (1876–1972; LDS)
Music: George D. Pyper (1860–1943; LDS)
Tune name: FIELDING

Times of discouragement are part of everyone’s lot in life, even for those who are certain that their commitment is wholehearted and their cause is righteous. “Does the Journey Seem Long?” is a hymn that can carry us through such moments— times of trial and weariness— when we should remember to “look upward in joy.”

J. Spencer Cornwall noted of this hymn: “According to Elder Joseph Fielding Smith the words of this hymn were written while he was riding on a train to Arizona. When George D. Pyper saw the hymn, he asked for the privilege of writing the music for it” (Stories of Our Mormon Hymns, 250). Elder Pyper named the tune FIELDING in honor of the author, and the hymn was first published in the 1927 Latter- day Saint hymnal.

Perhaps it was this train ride, as he saw miles of desert country passing by his window, that suggested to Joseph Fielding Smith the metaphor of the long journey. Or perhaps it was just that the train ride gave him some free time in his busy schedule to turn his thoughts to poetry.

The questions that form the first two verses show that Elder Smith had an intimate understanding of the burden of discouragement and sadness. Nevertheless, he took to heart throughout his life the admonitions that he expressed in this hymn. In 1970, more than forty years after he wrote these words, he was sustained as President of the Church. He was then ninety-three years old. His life validated the message of his hymn: do not give up the journey; do not yield to weariness; look toward the final goal and continue on.

The 1950 hymnal included one verse left out of the 1985 hymnal:

Are you weighed down with grief,
Is there pain in your breast,
As you wearily journey along?
Are you looking behind
To the valley below?
Do you wish you were back in the throng?