O is for “O, My Father”

Music can inspire and uplift us. Works such as The Messiah, by Handel, are a testament to the power of inspirational music. Sometimes, music can teach us…In this hymn written by early Mormon pioneer and Church leader, Eliza R. Snow, is found the doctrine of Heavenly Parents–that we are literally the spirit children of a Father and a Mother in Heaven.

As I read/sing this hymn, I feel that this message is truth. It reminds me of when I first heard the doctrines of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ taught to me by missionaries [stay tuned…coming up in my R post]–it is what I believed in my heart and soul outside of that taught by any organized religion I had known up to that time.

O My Father Lyrics

Text: Eliza R. Snow, 1804–1887

Music: James McGranahan, 1840–1907

1.  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?
2.  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.
3. 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.
4. 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.