This Day Is a Good Day, Lord
#1051 Hymns—For Home and ChurchLyrics
The Story Behind “This Day Is a Good Day, Lord”
A Utah appellate judge who founded a hymn writers' workshop set Psalm 118 to a melody that had been 'hovering over him' — and won the Church's music competition with it.
The Judge Who Writes Hymns
J. Frederic 'Fred' Voros Jr. spent his career in the law, capped by eight years as a judge on the Utah Court of Appeals. But he grew up shaped by his mother playing old hymns at the piano, and hymns never let go of him — he even founded the Western Hymn Writers Workshop in 2013 to gather others with the same quiet obsession.
In 2009 he set out to write a hymn on Psalm 118:24 — 'This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.' He had never composed a tune before. But as he worked on the text, he sensed that 'a melody had been hovering over him,' and when he finally sat at the piano, it simply emerged.
Best Anthem, 2014
With an arrangement by Catherine A. Tibbitts, the hymn won best anthem in the Church's 2014 music submission competition — a decade before the hymnbook found it. Its invitation is gentle and daily: ponder God's world, turn toward eternity, practice peace, and notice — in Voros's phrase — 'the extravagant kindness' of God.
It is gratitude as a discipline: not waiting for a good day, but declaring one.
Hymn #1051
'This Day Is a Good Day, Lord' was released September 18, 2025, in the fifth batch of Hymns—For Home and Church — in the same release as President Nelson's 'Our Prayer to Thee' and 'Stand by Me.'
Unusually for the collection, Voros retains the copyright to his own hymn — the judge, fittingly, kept his rights in order.
Did You Know?
- The author served eight years as a judge on the Utah Court of Appeals.
- He had never composed a melody before this one — he said a tune had been 'hovering over him' as he wrote the words.
- It won best anthem in the Church's 2014 music submission competition, ten years before entering the hymnbook.
- Voros founded the Western Hymn Writers Workshop in 2013 to gather fellow hymn writers.
- He describes the hymn's subject as noticing 'the extravagant kindness' of God.
Scripture Connections
- Psalm 118:24 — 'This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it' — the hymn's entire premise.
- Alma 34:32 — 'This life is the time... to perform their labors' — why today, specifically, matters.
- Joshua 24:15 — 'Choose you this day' — gladness as a daily decision.
Talk About It
Questions to spark a conversation with your family or Primary class:
- The hymn declares today a good day — before knowing how it goes. What changes when gratitude comes first?
- What 'extravagant kindness' of God did you notice today? Would you have noticed without looking?
- Fred Voros wrote his first melody in his fifties. What have you not tried yet that might be waiting for you?
- How could your family make 'this day is a good day' a morning habit?
Teaching Resources
Categories
Attribution
Music by: J. Frederic Voros Jr., 2009 | THIS DAY
Text by: and music: J. Frederic Voros Jr., 2009 | THIS DAY
Audio files from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints