House of the Lord

We had to renew our temple recommends tonight and I thought about this quote:

Under the definition of ‘Temple’ in the Bible Dictionary, we read the following: ‘It is the most holy of any place of worship on the earth,’ followed by this insightful statement: ‘Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness.’ For me this suggests a sacred relationship between the temple and the home. Not only can we turn the doors of our homes to the temple, or the house of the Lord; we can make our homes a ‘house of the Lord.’

Gary E. Stevenson, “Sacred Homes, Sacred Temples,” Ensign, May 2009, 101

I like the comparison of the temple and homes. I had a friend tell me today how she loves to walk in our home because she feels happy. That's how I always want it to feel. I want joy to radiate from the walls because the spirit can be felt. This means, each and every day, my family needs to be a little better. Soft words and kind tones instead of loud and accusing voices. Listen to uplifting music instead of questionable material. What we choose to bring into our homes can make each moment feel temple worthy. Our homes and temples are sacredly intertwined and we can bring out that potential.

What an incredible prospect!

October's Message: Go to the Temple!

I'm not sure if any of you noticed, but there are three talks in October's Ensign about going to the temple. Three talks! That seems like a lot in one issue to me. Also, the last two lessons in our Joseph Smith manual (for Relief Society and Elder's Quorum) have discussed the temple and eternal families. Apparently we need to go to the temple more often than we are.

I want to share my testimony of the importance of going to the temple. While we were in NYC we had the opportunity of going to the Manhattan Temple. I am sure you have all felt that special spirit that is associated with being inside the temple, or even just walking on the grounds of the temple. It is a special spirit that immediately calms you. It is truly a holy place. In NYC there are so many taxis and cars honking all of the time that the city is a very noisy place. As soon as we walked through the doors into the temple it was immediately silent, calm, and peaceful. It was such a drastic change that I could physically understand the phrase "being in the world, but not of the world." When we go to the temple we are supposed to leave all of our worldly cares behind us and go there to worship our Father in Heaven. I always feel different when I enter the temple, but going to the Manhattan temple was an even more profound difference.

I know that the covenants we make inside the temple are equally as important as the covenants we make at baptism. We must make those covenants with God in order to have eternal life. I encourage you all to set aside a time this month to go to the temple, to worship and serve. And when you go, leave all of the worldly cares behind. Take off your watches and forget the world outside. Truly BE THERE.

PS: Read the articles in the Ensign about the temple: They are GREAT! (Here's the link to the online October Ensign!)

The House of the Lord

Church today was one big message of "GO TO THE TEMPLE." In Relief Society our lesson was from Elder David A. Bednar's talk from this past conference. It is called "Honorably Hold a Name and Standing." I encourage you all to take the time this week to read it and ponder it!

The temple is the most important part of being a member of the LDS faith. There is so much work to be done and there is simply not enough time, or people, to do it. I often think of the people on the other side of the veil who are patiently waiting for their work to be done. Many of them have been waiting for hundreds, even thousands, of years. If I were them I would be going crazy with anticipation for my work to be done. Thinking of this makes me want to go to the temple every day. Sometimes I wish that I lived closer to the temple so that I could go there every day, but first I need to make the time in my life to drive 45 minutes every week to partake in temple worship.

In Elder Bednar's talk he discusses the blessings we receive from worshiping in the temple. "I have come to understand better the protection available through our temple covenants and what it means to make an acceptable offering of temple worship. There is a difference between church-attending, tithe-paying members who occasionally rush into the temple to go through a session and those members who faithfully and consistently worship in the temple." Our teacher today added to this quote by saying, "If you pass through the temple, then the temple will pass through you." We need to go to the temple. We need to get there early with enough time to change and sit in the chapel for a short period of time to connect with our Heavenly Father. We need to be alert throughout our service there. Then we need to go home and do something with the promptings we received from the Spirit. Going to the temple is not just a chore or an obligation, it is a blessing and it will only be a blessing if we make it one.

It Was More Temple Than Prison

"Tonight’s message is that when you have to, you can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experience with the Lord in any situation you are in. Indeed, let me say that even a little stronger: You can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experience with the Lord in the most miserable experiences of your life—in the worst settings, while enduring the most painful injustices, when facing the most insurmountable odds and opposition you have ever faced."

I know that I no longer teach Sunday School, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to prepare my own versions of the lessons before I go to church and see what they have in store. If you are reading this before (or even after) you have the lesson titled, "O God, Where Art Thou?" I would suggest reading the talk that Jeffrey R. Holland gave in a CES fireside in September of 2008 titled, "Lessons from Liberty Jail." This is where I found the opening quote that is written above.

I'm not going to go into great detail about the happenings at Liberty Jail or the time surrounding it, but I will say that I believe this period of time to be one of the hardest in Church History as well as the hardest time in the Prophet Joseph Smith's life. But it also led to my favorite sections in the Doctrine and Covenants (121-123). At the opening of Section 121, Joseph is having what I call a "God is picking on me" moment. It's gotten to the moment where he feels that he and the Saints have suffered enough and they should be seeing some miracles in response to their faithfulness. I'm not trying to trivialize what is being said, I'm personally identifying with it. While moments like this can be interpreted to be prideful or indignant, I like to see them as the end of the humility fuse. God understands our frustrations, He understands everything. So within the walls of Liberty Jail, we see a beautiful transformation in Joseph's understanding of God. He finds spiritual liberty in a physical jail. And isn't that true of life's purpose itself? Instead of chastising Joseph, He speaks to him as any loving Father would. "I am here. This will pass. All will be made right."

It is in times like these, in trials like these in which all of us can truly come to know our Father in Heaven. Where we can feel the constant presence of the Holy Ghost. In our hardest trials we are given the opportunity to come to know our Savior on a deeper level than any other.

"...these revelations “made Liberty jail, for a time, a center of instruction. The eyes of the saints were turned to it as the place whence would come encouragement, counsel—the word of the Lord. It was more temple than prison, so long as the Prophet was there. It was a place of meditation and prayer. … Joseph Smith sought God in this rude prison, and found him” (B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of the Church, 1:526).

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.