Personal experiences inspire the new hymn ‘Jesus Is My Shepherd’

The new song “Jesus Is My Shepherd” — released in the latest batch of hymns in “Hymns for Home and Church” of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — teaches through its lyrics that “Jesus knows my name” and “I’m His precious lamb.”

One of the Savior’s titles is the Good Shepherd (see, for example, John 10 and Psalm 23).

Besides “Jesus Is My Shepherd,” other hymns and songs refer to this role, such as "Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd” and "The Lord Is My Shepherd” from the current hymnbook, and "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need” and “The Lord’s My Shepherd” from the new global hymnbook.

Two experiences in particular prompted the imagery in the newest song and taught its author and composer, Tammy Simister Robinson, about lambs, sheep and the voice of a shepherd.

First, when Robinson was a young girl growing up in Coalville, Utah, her family would often camp in the Uintas. During one trip, they took in a motherless lamb.

“I remember watching my mother cradle that little baby lamb and wondering if it was going to live,” she said. The lamb grew and became a beloved family pet.

Later, when she was a teenager, she stayed overnight with a friend at the mountain range where the friend’s family took their sheep. Something in the middle of the night disturbed the sheep. Then their shepherd stepped forward and called to them.

“All of a sudden, they just all just turned and came back to the area where we were — it was just serene and calm and pastoral again,” Robinson said. “It was an experience that was so perfect in reminding us the sheep know the shepherd, they know his voice, they know he’s going to take care of them.”

She doesn’t remember why she sat down one day to write “Jesus Is My Shepherd,” but those two stories were on her mind as she thought of the Good Shepherd who knows and loves His sheep, calls them by name, gathers them and guides them.

Songs help people understand Jesus’ role, and “the whole serenity of it, the peacefulness of it in this world today,” Robinson said. “That is where we find calm and security. We are nurtured and held and led. We can always find peace when we are in His presence, and we can have His presence in our lives every day.”

Writing and composing come together for her, and the melody felt pastoral in her mind. “Sometimes songs don’t come easily, but that one came pretty easily,” she said.

Robinson, who now lives in Midvale, Utah, earned a college degree in music education; she credits her mother for giving her encouragement and opportunities to do so. After working as a public school choral teacher for a few years, Robinson is a private voice and piano teacher.

She has submitted other songs to the Church through the years, including “May I Serve Thee,” which was performed at the 1998 and 2002 general Relief Society meetings.

When the call was made for submissions for a new global hymnbook, Robinson felt the strongest about “Jesus Is My Shepherd” of all the things that she has written because of “its inclusiveness and the ability for us to recognize the importance of knowing who we are and how our Savior will rescue us and will lead us. He is the Shepherd. He loves His sheep.”

The song was first printed in the Friend magazine in the September 2013 issue, but a couple of words were changed before it became a part of the new hymnbook. For example, Robinson said her second verse used to read, “If my tiny feet should roam,” and now it says, “If my feet should ever roam.” She liked how that change allows youth and adults to also see themselves as being one of the sheep in the song.

This past Easter Sunday, her ward sang “Jesus Is My Shepherd” in sacrament meeting. One of her young students played it on the piano first so the congregation could hear it. Watching that 10-year-old boy work through his nerves and play the whole piece — and then hearing the congregation sing her song — was moving.

“It was so sweet. I was just praying that I wouldn’t cry,” she said.

As her ward music coordinator, Robinson tries to include a children’s song at least twice a month in sacrament meeting. Often, she’ll choose a song that the children have been learning in Primary for a couple of weeks first.

“Those kids perk up and start singing. The kids really go for it,” she said. “Those are things that we should be doing. We are thinking of all ages in this music and these new songs.”