The Temple

People all over the world, in many lands and cultures, seek a place that is sacred or holy - a place where they can feel the Divine. Whether it is a Christian going to the Holy Land, the Jew at the  Western Wall, the Muslim going to Mecca, or a Buddhist who wants to see Lumbini, Nepal - the goal is the same – to worship in a place that is holy.

You can go to my temple blog to read extensively about the temple. For now, I just want to say the temple is my holy place. All the years my husband and I served there every Thursday morning were so very special. Just to walk in and put off my street clothes and don my temple dress, to be clothed in white and walk those halls helping with whatever I was asked, was heaven on earth.

I used to watch the people that came each week. Some came out of duty. It was their ward temple day. Some came to do work for an ancestor. But then I’d have the privilege of witnessing someone being sealed to a deceased parent and the joy was overwhelming. I will always remember little Sarah sitting on the altar being sealed to her forever family. What could be more beautiful!

Sometimes I’d see someone who is obviously troubled in spirit. You can see they are seeking peace. There in the quiet beauty of the temple wonderful things are taking place. It is a safe, holy place where God’s peace can be found. I’m grateful we have access to our temples, our own holy place.

We really don’t have a hymn about temples that even comes close to capturing what that place means to us. No, you have to go to the Children’s Songbook to sing:

I love to see the temple. 

I'm going there someday 

to feel the Holy Spirit, 

to listen and to pray. 

For the temple is a house of God, 

a place of love and beauty. 

I'll prepare myself while I am young. 

This is my sacred duty.