Original Nautical (Christian) Poetry: By A Very Small Helm

Doctrine And Covenants 123:16

You know, brethren, that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a storm, by being kept workways with the wind and the waves.

By A Very Small Helm

By J. Brad Chapman

It’s said, my good friend, that a very large ship

Is aided and served oh so true,

By the very small means of a very small helm

I’ll explain, as I’ve plied the big blue.

You see, a large ship sideways to the wave

In a storm becomes a great sail

And when the ‘ol wind starts to blow fierce enough

The great ship will broach and then fail.

Seawater pours in and the ship starts to sink

And the crew will cry out in shear fright

And then they’ll slip under with prayer on their lips

That rises and meets heavens height.

But that very small helm on that very large ship

Could have saved the drowned and doomed crew

If she’d only been steered to keep her work ways

To the wind and the waves of big blue.

If the bow is held straight to the billowy blasts

No matter how hard the wind blows

The ship will slice cleanly through tempest and storm

And she’ll reap what the wise Captain sows.

So what do we learn from the plight of this ship

That sunk in the watery realm?

We learn that by small means great ships can be saved

In this case, by a very small helm.

Some people think their efforts are small

And give up their cause with a sigh

But we know that by small means great things come to pass

By those who are willing to try.

So as the sky darkens and the storm gathers strength

Grip the helm tight and steer straight

Keep the ship work ways to high wind and wave

And by small means do that which is great.

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James 3:4
 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.

Alma 37:6
But behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

D&C 64:33
And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.

D&C 123:15
Let no man count them as small things. ___________________________________________

I have been intrigued by the two scriptures that mention a "very small helm" since I obtained my captain's license back in my early 30's.  Back in the early 2000's, while I was delivering a high speed ferry from Sitka, Alaska to New York City,  I had the opportunity to tour the Aircraft Carrier on the Hudson River in New York City. It was the USS Intrepid. I stood at the helm and grasped the wheel and was in awe at how such a small wheel could turn an absolutely enormous Aircraft Carrier.