April in Review

Heavenly Father and Mother are with us when we worship, judge us, work in miracles, guard us, are known through Christ, save us, love us, are with the righteous, are glorified in Christ, sent their Son, and give us the bread of Christ.

Heavenly Mother on the Internet this month:

Heavenly Mother was mentioned quickly in Jessawhy's beautiful peace, Real Life Good Samaritans.

Not directly related to Heavenly Mother, but somewhat named for Her, is a new Mormon blog called Our Mother's Keeper. It's an LDS take on being stewards over the earth. We often think of "Mother" Nature and "Mother" Earth and I like to think we are referring to Heavenly Mother when we refer to Nature. Maybe some of you will enjoy that blog as it grows.

I didn't see many other references to Heavenly Mother this month, but if you know of some, please share the links in the comments. As we get into May and Americans start talking about Mother's Day, perhaps we'll get a few more for next month.

John 6:32-33

This scripture is taken from the Bread of Life lesson. As usual, I changed "Father" to "Parents" and I added "and Goddess."

32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Parents give you the true bread from heaven.

33 For the bread of God and Goddess is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.

Behold the Great Redeemer Die

Happy Easter everyone! Today's hymn was our sacrament hymn today which, when you sing all the verses, has the resurrection in the last verse. This is Eliza R. Snow's Behold the Great Redeemer Die. I changed "Father" to "Parents." I also changed "man" to "we." Along with being gender-inclusive, "we" feels more personal.


Behold the great Redeemer die,
A broken law to satisfy.
He dies a sacrifice for sin,
He dies a sacrifice for sin,
That we may live and glory win.

While guilty men his pains deride,
They pierce his hands and feet and side;
And with insulting scoffs and scorns,
And with insulting scoffs and scorns,
They crown his head with plaited thorns.

Although in agony he hung,
No murm’ring word escaped his tongue.
His high commission to fulfill,
His high commission to fulfill,
He magnified his Parent's will.

“Parents, from me remove this cup.
Yet, if thou wilt, I’ll drink it up.
I’ve done the work thou gavest me,
I’ve done the work thou gavest me;
Receive my spirit unto thee.”

He died, and at the awful sight
The sun in shame withdrew its light!
Earth trembled, and all nature sighed,
Earth trembled, and all nature sighed
In dread response, “A God has died!”

He lives—he lives. We humbly now
Around these sacred symbols bow
And seek, as Saints of latter days,
And seek, as Saints of latter days,
To do his will and live his praise.

3 Nephi 11:3-7

I've been thinking about how beautiful these few verses of the Book of Mormon are. Today I didn't need to add Mother or change anything to Parents: I just changed "I" to "We" in verse 7.

3 And it came to pass that while they were thus conversing one with another, they heard a voice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn.

4 And it came to pass that again they heard the voice, and they understood it not.

5 And again the third time they did hear the voice, and did open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound came.

6 And behold, the third time they did understand the voice which they heard; and it said unto them:

7 Behold our Beloved Son, in whom We are well pleased, in whom We have glorified our names—hear ye him.

Matthew 13:43

Yesterday's Sunday School lesson was on parables and so I chose the last verse of the parable of the wheat and the tares for today. I added "Mother" and made the last sentence gender inclusive.

43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father and Mother. Who hath ears to hear, let them hear.

Our Savior's Love

Today's post is from Jenni. I linked to her blogger profile so you can see all the blogs she contributes to! Thank you for your guest post, Jenni!


We were singing this in Sacrament Meeting a couple of weeks ago and it struck me how each verse talked about one member of the Godhead. Of course, there was one person left out, so I wrote a fourth verse for Mother. I started off by just using lines from the other verses and switching to female words, but then I realized the rhyme scheme was too complex for that. So I ended up basically writing it from scratch. It includes several references to other ways She has been symbolized, such as Wisdom, and the Tree of Life.

Hymn #113 Our Savior's Love

1. Our Savior’s love shines like the sun with perfect light,
As from above it breaks thru clouds of strife.
Lighting our way, it leads us back into his sight,
Where we may stay to share eternal life.

2. The Spirit, voice of goodness, whispers to our hearts
A better choice than evil’s anguished cries.
Loud may the sound of hope ring till all doubt departs,
And we are bound to him by loving ties.

3. Our Father, God of all creation, hear us pray
In rev’rence, awed by thy Son’s sacrifice.
Praises we sing. We love thy law; we will obey.
Our heav’nly King, in Thee our hearts rejoice.

4. Our Mother, God-dess beautiful, reigning above
Wisdom and rod, eternal living Tree
Leading with grace, and nurturing our hearts with love.
Mother's embrace, we find our peace in Thee.

Doctrine and Covenants 76:40-43

It's been a while since I've done a scripture from the Doctrine and Covenants, so here we go! I added Mother and made the language gender inclusive. I wasn't sure if the "his hands" of verse 43 referred to Christ's hands or the Father's. I made it plural to include Heavenly Mother, but I don't know for sure if that's what is being referenced. What do you think?

40 And this is the gospel, the glad tidings, which the voice out of the heavens bore record unto us—

41 That he came into the world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness;

42 That through him all might be saved whom the Parents had put into his power and made by him;

43 Who glorifies the Mother and Father, and saves all the works of their hands, except those children of perdition who deny the Son after the Father and Mother have revealed him.

Matthew 11:25-27

Yesterday's Sunday School lesson was "Take my Yoke upon You." There weren't any scriptures in the reading for it that mentioned the Father or God, but the three verses before the "take my yoke" verses are of Christ revealing his Father, so I chose those for today. I changed "Father" to "Parents" and also included Mother at other points. I also changed "man" to "one" for gender inclusivity.

25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Parents, Lord and Lady of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

26 Even so, Mother and Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.

27 All things are delivered unto me of my Parents: and no one knoweth the Son, but the Father and Mother; neither knoweth any one the Parents, save the Son, and they to whomsoever the Son will reveal them.

How Gentle Their Commands

How Gentle God's Commands was our closing song today. I changed "God's" to "Their" and while that might seem ambiguous since the "They" isn't named as our Heavenly Parents, I left it in because Heavenly Parents are mentioned explicitly later. It's not uncommon for hymns to talk about "him" and later mention if it's Christ or Heavenly Father, so I felt it was ok this time. Also, I felt "Lord" is referring to Heavenly Father in this hymn and not necessarily to Christ. To make that line work, though, I changed "the Lord and" to "our Parents." If you're going to sing it this way, note that the last syllable of "Parents" is where "and" is and that last thought its own sentence "Trust their constant care" instead of the second half of a compound sentence.

And I want to give a shout out to whomever picks our closing songs: they always do a great job of picking appropriately short hymns. When the talks or testimonies go over, singing all the verses of "I Believe in Christ" is a little much, so I appreciate careful closing hymn planning.

How gentle Their commands!
How kind their precepts are!
Come, cast your burdens on our Parents-
Trust their constant care.

Beneath their watchful eyes,
Their Saints securely dwell;
Those hands which bear all nature up
Shall guard their children well.

Why should this anxious load
Press down your weary mind?
Haste to your Heav’nly Parents' throne
And sweet refreshment find.

Their goodness stands approved,
Unchanged from day to day;
I’ll drop my burden at their feet
And bear a song away.

Mormon 9:19

Today I used "Gods" to mean both Heavenly Father and Mother. I'm not entirely happy with that in the same way that I don't like "man" to mean "person." Any suggestions? It might be worth the wordiness to write out "Goddess and God" instead of "Gods."

19 And if there were miracles wrought then, why have God and Goddess ceased to be Gods of miracles and yet be unchangeable Beings? And behold, I say unto you they changeth not; if so they would cease to be Gods; and they ceaseth not to be Gods, and are a Goddess and God of miracles.

3 Nephi 27:26-27

How was conference for everyone? Today's scripture was quoted by Elder Robbins yesterday and in fact, he did some of the work for me: when he quoted it, he added "and women." I have changed "Father" to "Parents."

26 And behold, all things are written by the Parents; therefore out of the books which shall be written shall the world be judged.

27 And know ye that ye shall be judges of this people, according to the judgment which I shall give unto you, which shall be just. Therefore, what manner of men and women ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even das I am.

Sabbath Day

I don't hear this one often, but it was sung today by the Tabernacle Choir. Here is Sabbath Day. I've changed "Father" to "Parents." I think it would also be neat to change who you are singing to each verse: "Father," "Mother," etc.

Sabbath Day

In sweet remembrance of thy Son,
We gather in thy house as one
To join in prayer, to sing thy praise,
To worship thee and learn thy ways.
Parents, on this the Sabbath day,
Be with us gathered here, we pray.

And may our thoughts still turn to thee,
With loved ones, friends, and family.
In all we do till day is gone,
May worship still continue on.
Parents, on this the Sabbath day,
Be with us in our homes, we pray.

Help each to seek a quiet hour
To read thy word and feel thy pow’r,
To hear thy voice, though small and still,
Renew our strength to do thy will.
Parents, on this the Sabbath day,
Be with us in our hearts, we pray.