I was asked to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting this past Sunday and the assigned topic was - The Blessings of Temple Attendance. I wanted to share it on my blog to remind myself and my posterity to get our buns to the temple. I felt Heavenly Father's direction and hand in my life like no other time before while preparing a talk.
I am reliant on Him.
I am thankful for Him.
I received my temple recommend two weeks before my husband and I
were to wed. When I walked into the stake president’s office he said, “I’ve
heard you’ve worked hard to get here.”
My insides shouted, “Yes! Yes I have!”
My whole life had
been centered on that very moment and I felt extremely blessed and excited to
walk out those meeting house doors with my recommend in hand.
I knew what I was doing was right. I was so nervous I would
lose this precious piece of paper, validating my worthiness, that I reminded
myself of Molly in the Unsinkable Molly Brown after they received their first
cash in from their ore mine. She wanted to hide her fortune of money in the
least suspecting place if a thief came calling and determined the wood stove
was just that place. Her husband came in from the cold a few minutes later and
decided to warm himself by starting a fire…. And you can imagine the rest. I did not want my temple recommend starting
on fire. After going through various hiding spots I deemed my wallet the proper
location. J
Receiving my temple recommend was grand but it would be “one
upped” just a couple weeks later when I attended the temple. After
participating in the temple endowment session and being welcomed into the
Celestial room by family, friends, and my awesome hot fiancé I felt a variety
of blessings– peace, joy, enlightenment, strength, love…
Just two days ago my son Dash was trying to explain something
so precisely to me and he said, “there are so many words to choose from it’s hard
to know which ones to use”.
That’s how I feel about labeling the blessings of temple
attendance. How do I know which words to choose when they’re all so
magnificent?
The Spirit, who is ever on our side, gave me a little help
this week in the identification of one single word.
Clarity.
The temple blesses us with clarity –it makes things clear:
President Packer referred to it as the place where the dust
of distraction settles.
My mother told me that only two days ago the temple was
overflowing with youth who performed over 500 ordinances by 8 a.m. The deceased
they served and sacrificed their sleep for will not be the only ones who are
blessed. These youth will be blessed with clarity.
One of my YW from our old ward told me that her weekly
temple attendance to do Baptism’s for the Dead helps her to resist temptation.
Elder Oaks said, “Remember your covenants and be faithful in
temple attendance.” He went on to say that a wise Bishop once told him that, “A
priesthood bearers’ fall into pornography never occurs during regular worship
in the temple. It happens when he has become causal in his temple worship.”
#1 The temple
provides the clarity we need to resist temptation. And not just one or two
temptations but President Monson says, “EVERY Temptation” EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.
President Packer said, “Our labors in the temple cover us
with a shield and a protection, both individually and as a people.”
#2 The Clarity to
feel Peace. I have a friend who loved the single life. She was comfortable
in her current season and wasn’t in a hurry to give her hand to anyone. She was
eventually called to serve in the temple once a week and also made sure to
attend a session of her own as well. Down the road she found the man for her
and agreed to be his eternal companion. She attributes this decision to the
time she spent in the temple. It allowed her the clarity to feel at peace with
the prospective union. A few years later she was offered that sweet peace again
when she felt her marriage was in ruin. She found herself in the Celestial room
begging God, with tears streaming down her cheeks, to save her marriage. In
that same room she saw a woman, who too, was crying. She felt a nudge from the
Lord saying to her, “Go hug her. Be my arm and I’ll give you everything you
desire.” She went over and gave this woman a great big hug, felt immense peace,
wondered if she’d be referred to as the weird woman who gives random hugs in
the Celestial room and now, many years
later, her marriage has exceeded the strength of her initial desires. The Son
of God promised us, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as
the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be trouble, neither let
it be afraid.”
#3 The temple gives
us the clarity to love. Different kinds of love - There is no doubting the
immeasurable amount of love I feel for my spouse when attending the temple
together. This love and adoration follows us out of the temple and fortifies
our marriage throughout the weeks to follow. I am thankful for him every day.
But I’ve witnessed another kind of love -the Love our Heavenly Father and
Savior has for each and everyone one of us. Referring back to the story I
shared previously about my friend who was struggling with marital issues – I
went to the temple around this same time although I was praying for a very
different thing -I was hoping she’d have the strength to leave her spouse. In
my eyes he was the epitome of everything vile and I prayed for the Lord to
bless her with the strength to leave. I then felt the resounding impression
that she can’t leave because she is his
blessing. The Lord loved her
husband. The Lord was blessing him with a wife who loved him unceasingly and
would help him in his journey home. Attending the temple gave me the clarity to begin to love someone I
really didn’t want to and also the
clarity to forgive.
#4 Temple attendance
gives you the clarity needed when setting priorities. I have a friend who is the busy mother of nine
children and is also a small business owner. She’s the kind of gal you see and
think, “How does she do it all?” Her secret is that she and her husband have
made it a goal throughout their marriage to attend the temple once a week. She
refers to this as her marriage/family insurance. And although her time is
precious, temple attendance helps her in setting her priorities which are, to
name a few, exhibit patience, love and understanding to her family and she has
also set the priority to find others to serve and follow through. Her regular
temple attendance gives her the clarity to center her priorities on things of
an eternal nature instead of a worldly one.
#5 The Clarity that
you’re needed and have purpose – My parent’s serve in the Boise temple and
witnessed an elderly lady named Sister Harris, serving on a regular basis. She
attended the temple every single day it was open and didn’t only do one
session, but two – she even followed through on her 100th birthday.
My parent’s told me “it was a blessing to witness and also a blessing to Sister
Harris to know that she could
continue to make a contribution, even in the most advanced stage of life.”
President Monson said, “the temple
provides purpose to our lives.”
#6 The Clarity to endure. –
President Ballard shared the following message, “When Nauvoo fell in
September of 1846 there were unbearable conditions for the Saints in the poor
camps. When word reached Winter Quarters, Brigham Young immediately called the
brethren together. After explaining the situation and reminding them of the
covenant made in the Nauvoo Temple that no one who wanted to come, no matter how
poor, would be left behind, he gave them this remarkable challenge: “Now is the
time for labor,” he said. “Let the fire of the covenant which
you made in the House of the Lord, burn in your hearts, like flame
unquenchable” Within a few days, in spite of near-destitute
conditions at Winter Quarters, many wagons were rolling eastward to rescue the
Saints in the poor camps along the Mississippi River.
We often hear of the suffering and
the sacrifice those early Saints endured, and we ask ourselves, how did they do
it? What was it that gave them such strength? Part of the answer lies in
President Young’s powerful words. Those early Latter-day Saints had made
covenants with God, and those covenants burned like
unquenchable fire in their hearts.”
#7 The clarity received
from temple attendance provides direction. – One of my sisters received a distinct NO! in
the temple when inquiring whether a marriage proposal was right for her.
Luckily, my husband felt the overwhelming push of a YES! when
seeking if I was the one for him.
I have another sister who was VERY DONE having children
after a scary experience with baby #4 and then after a trip to the temple she
and her spouse knew baby #5 really wanted to come to their home.
“A bishop wanted to decide
who he should choose for his counselors. He could not decide on one of them. He
testified that by fasting, meditation, and prayer in the temple, he was
enlightened and assured that his choice would be right. He moved ahead and his
choice proved to be correct.” (Harold Glen Clark)
#8 One of the greatest
blessings of temple attendance is the clarity to help us view things from an
eternal prospective. Elder Faust said, “This life makes no logical
sense unless we think in terms of the eternities. The transcendent blessings of
life and eternity are received within the sacred walls of the temple.” The church has started a pilot program where
young people, who have received their call but are waiting to depart on their
missions, have taken the opportunity to become temple ordinance workers. There
is one young man my parents told me about who was leaving in two weeks but
wanted to take advantage of the temple experience so he worked two shifts per
day/four days per week. They shared with me that, “that’s four months’ worth of
work in two weeks.” What a blessing of clarity this will give these soon to
depart missionaries of the “big picture”. They’ll be able to serve their
missions not only seeking to remind the Lord’s sheep of the truthfulness of the
gospel and have them get baptized, but also to push them to keep on striving to
be worthy to enter His Holy House. On LDS.org it says, “Everything in the Church—the meetings and activities, the
missionary efforts, the lessons taught and the hymns—all lead to the work done
in holy temples.”
I worked hard, and am still working
every day to maintain my worthiness to hold a temple recommend –which is good.
But what is even better is if I use it and
receive all of the blessing awaiting me. President Hunter shared a story one
time where he said, “At the close of a fast and
testimony meeting, the bishop remarked, ‘We have had a spiritual experience
today listening to the testimonies borne by each other. This is because we have
come fasting according to the law of the Lord. But let us never forget that the
law consists of two parts: that we fast by abstaining from food and drink and
that we contribute what we have thereby saved to the bishop’s storehouse for
the benefit of those who are less fortunate.’ Then he added: ‘I hope no one of
us will leave today with only half a blessing.”
Let’s
go to the temple and claim our blessings – all of them – not just half.
Go
and be blessed with clarity.
