Cross-posted at Waves of Life
Tonight Finn wanted me to sing “Boo Sky.” I remembered that Mark sings “My Heavenly Father Loves Me” to Finn when he puts him to bed. Since Mark is out of town, I sang it to him instead.
I started singing “Whenever I hear the song of a bird, or look at the blue, blue sky”, but I felt impressed to substitute Heavenly Mother for Heavenly Father. The result was really powerful. We speak of Mother Earth and the powerful force for creation that women represent, but as I sang to Finn I got teary and thought of all the wonderful women in my life who have profoundly influenced me for the better.
Here are the lyrics as I sang them to Finn tonight:
Whenever I hear the song of a bird, or look at the blue, blue sky,
Whenever I feel the rain on my face or the wind as it rushes by.
Whenever I touch a velvet rose or walk by a lilac tree,
I’m glad that I live in this beautiful world
Heavenly Mother created for me.
She gave me my eyes that I might see the color of butterfly wings.
She gave me my ears that I might hear the magical sound of things.
She gave me my mind, my life, my heart, I thank her reverently
For all her creations of which I’m a part.
Yes, I know Heavenly Mother loves me.
This is beautiful Jess. I often feel closest to God when I am outside in a beautiful place. My morning walks are the best time of the day for me. There is a feeling of sanctuary in nature. I love the twist on the pronoun here. To imagine this feminine force creating a beautiful place for Her children to grow. Just lovely. I think we’ll sing it both ways on family night to teach the kids about divine parents.
Beautiful!
I used to do almost the same thing when singing my son to sleep when he was younger, but I would change the words to the song A Child’s Prayer; ie “Heavenly Mother… are you really there?…”
(I did have some concern over how things would go when they sung the song in primary and the difference would be apparent… but he hasn’t been to primary in a while so it hasn’t been a issue.)
This is my all time favorite Primary song. As a child I always loved it and felt like it helped me see the whole world as an expression of God’s love. Even before my children were born, I have always sung this song with the words “Heavenly Parents.” It feels right. If there was ever a song that seemed to lend itself to singing about the shared love our Heavenly Parents have for their children, this is it.
Since for some insane reason this song is almost never sung in church (at least in any ward I’ve attended since childhood), my children still don’t know the original lyrics were “Heavenly Father.” By the time they do know, it will hopefully sound as absurd to them to exclude their Heavenly Mother from this song as it does to me!
Thanks for the post, Jess!
Love.
Thanks for the comments.
It’s nice to hear that some of use do this all along. I guess it’s taken me a while to get to the changing lyrics stage 🙂
Aimee,
I’ll have to try Heavenly Parents next time. That’s a good compromise.
Jessawhy, I loved this post so much, I kind of turned it into a blog idea. I hope that’s ok. http://mutualapprobation.blogspot.com