No Sacrifice Too Great

I signed up for Church Gems on the website and this came today; at first I thought it would be a cop out sending what I got today, but I'm teaching Church History in primary right now and we spent the last two weeks talking about the Kirtland Temple. I felt impressed to share my feelings on the temple.

Even though this quote is about the Nauvoo Temple, I just want us to think about what they sacrificed so that we can have holy blessings today.

"No effort was spared [in the building of the original Nauvoo Temple]. No sacrifice was too great. Through . . . five years men chiseled stone and laid footings and foundation, walls and ornamentation. Hundreds went to the north, there to live for a time to cut lumber, vast quantities of it, and then bind it together to form rafts which were floated down the river to Nauvoo. Beautiful moldings were cut from that lumber. Pennies were gathered to buy nails. Unimaginable sacrifice was made to procure glass. They were building a temple to God, and it had to be the very best of which they were capable."In the midst of all of this activity, the Prophet and his brother Hyrum were killed in Carthage on the 27th of June 1844. . . ."But Brigham Young, President of the Quorum of the Twelve, picked up the reins. Joseph had placed his authority upon the shoulders of the Apostles. Brigham determined to finish the temple, and the work went on. By day and by night they pursued their objective, notwithstanding all of the threats hurled against them by lawless mobs. In 1845 they knew they could not stay in the city they had built from the swamplands of the river. They knew they must leave. It became a time of feverish activity: first, to complete the temple, and secondly, to build wagons and gather supplies to move into the wilderness of the West."

Gordon B. Hinckley, "O That I Were an Angel, and Could Have the Wish of Mine Heart, Ensign," Nov. 2002, 4

We may not have to sacrifice our homes or our lives, but it takes effort and time to make it to the temple. If we do so, we help others that cannot help themselves and we set an example for those around us. In the dedicatory prayer for the Kirtland Temple, the Lord promises us blessings if we do so:

"And we ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them;

And from this place they may bear exceedingly great and glorious tidings, in truth, unto the ends of the earth, that they may know that this is thy work; and that thou hast put forth thy hand, to fulfil that which thou hast spoken by the mouths of the prophets, concerning the last days." ---D&C 109: 22-23

We are armed with the power of God when we come to the temple and walk back out into the world. We have the opportunity and blessing to share these truths to the world, so take time to relearn them. Make a goal to go to the temple more often than you do now and you will draw closer to the Lord and desire to serve Him and His children more.