Mothers' Day Song

My husband has a long time good friend who, every Mothers' Day since I met him 5 years ago, never fails to mention his frustration at the hymns chosen for church that day.

It's not that he dislikes the songs that are chosen, he just gets a little irritated that one particular song is not chosen.

I think that most likely the title itself takes it out of the running for any chorister who maybe doesn't know the lyrics. However, he firmly believes there is no better song to sing on Mothers' Day because it is the one and only hymn that mentions Heavenly Mother.

So, to perhaps put his mind at ease (probably not though) for this one Mothers' Day, the hymn -

O My Father

O my Father, thou that dwellest
In the high and glorious place,
When shall I regain thy presence
And again behold thy face?
In thy holy habitation,
Did my spirit once reside?
In my first primeval childhood
Was I nurtured near thy side?

For a wise and glorious purpose
Thou hast placed me here on earth
And withheld the recollection
Of my former friends and birth;
Yet ofttimes a secret something
Whispered, "You're a stranger here,"
And I felt that I had wandered
From a more exalted sphere.

I had learned to call thee Father,
Thru thy Spirit from on high,
But, until the key of knowledge
Was restored, I knew not why.
In the heav'ns are parents single?
No, the thought makes reason stare!
Truth is reason; truth eternal
Tells me I've a mother there.

When I leave this frail existence,
When I lay this mortal by,
Father, Mother, may I meet you
In your royal courts on high?
Then, at length, when I've completed
All you sent me forth to do,
With your mutual approbation
Let me come and dwell with you.

Text: Eliza R. Snow
(Emphasis added)