This blogpost features some thoughts on temples and a half-sheet activity page to complement the Come Follow Me (CFM) reading for October 27 - November 2, which includes Doctrine and Covenants 124. Click here for an index and links to my CFM blogposts for other weeks.
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RESOURCE THAT MAY BE INTERESTING, ESPECIALLY IN LIGHT OF PRESIDENT OAKS' RECENT ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT SLOWING THE PACE OF TEMPLE ANNOUNCING:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/temples/chronology/
That's over 100 temples that have been announced and haven't even started construction on yet!
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TEMPLES: MY STORYThis blogpost was previously published in 2020.
I grew up in the great state of Minnesota. It was a great place to
grow up, but when I was a child, the closest temples were over 1000
miles away. Idaho Falls, Cardston, Washington DC, and the Utah temples
were all right about the same distance away, which meant that going to
the temple was quite an ordeal for the people in our area. Our family
didn't have much money, but my parents always did love a good road
trip, so they'd build visiting temples into our family trips.
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| That's me in the piggy tails on the front row! |
That distance meant that they generally only went to the temple once a
year or so, but my parents would usually set aside a day or two out of
our vacation and attend as many sessions as they could during that
time. I learned first-hand from their example, that the temple was
important to my parents.
This is what visiting the temple looked like when I was a child:
Then, in the year I turned 12, the temple in Chicago, Illinois was
dedicated and that is where I went on all of our youth temple trips.
Chicago is about 400 miles away from where I grew up, so significantly
closer than driving to Utah, Cardston, Idaho, or DC, but still an
event. We generally went with the youth a couple times per year and my
parents would do babysitting exchanges with other families, so they
could be away for 20+ hours at a time while they did a session.
This is what traveling to the temple looked like when I was a teen:
When I was a college student, I worked at a store that sold glass temples at
the University Mall in Provo. As part of that job, I had the
opportunity to get asked a lot of questions about temples. I got asked
design questions--
why don't all temple have an angel Moroni statue?
And a lot of questions about where temples were and why? I was quite
the temple trivia whiz in my time and I enjoyed learning more about
temples in a time when the internet wasn't really a widespread thing
yet. haha. 😂
At the time I worked there in the early 1990's, there were about 50
temples in operation around the world. It was sometime in that time
period that Gordon B. Hinckley announced
his plan to have 100 temples built by the year 2000.
As someone who grew up so far away from a temple, that announcement
blew me away. What a blessing it was going to be for so many people
around the world and I wondered if Minnesota would ever get one.
Sure enough, in 1998, plans to build one in Minnesota were announced and
in January of the year 2000 it was completed--the 69th temple. There
were 102 dedicated by the end of that year. The year 2000 was a great
year for temples in the latter-days!
Though I no longer lived in Minnesota, I rejoiced with the people of
Minnesota and with all the people in the upper-midwest who now had a
temple in their backyards after having sacrificed so much money and so
many hours of their time to go to the temple for so many years.
Today there are 208 functioning temples with another 40 or so somewhere
in the process of being built (
source). Think of all the people in the world who are blessed for their closer proximity to the temple.
WHY DO TEMPLES MATTER?
So I've spent all this time telling you about how great it is that
temples are more accessible to the people, but why does that matter?
#1. I think the first thing people think of when they think of
blessings of the temple is that when couples are married and/or families
are sealed in the temple, those families are sealed together forever.
"The full realization of the blessings of a temple marriage is almost
beyond our mortal comprehension. Such a marriage will continue to grow
in the celestial realm. There we can become perfected." Russell M. Nelson
The ability to be sealed to our families is a wonderful blessing and
should be a goal for all to strive for, but you don't have to wait until
you're married or sealed to enjoy the blessings of the temple.
President Russell M. Nelson told us that “Building and maintaining temples may not change your life, but spending your time in the temple surely will.”
Why is that?
Elder Quentin L. Cook answers it well:
“The temple is also a place of refuge, thanksgiving, instruction, and
understanding, “that [we] may be perfected … in all things pertaining
to the kingdom of God on the earth.” Throughout my life it has been a
place of tranquility and peace in a world that is literally in
commotion. It is wonderful to leave the cares of the world behind in
that sacred setting.”(source)
#2. The temple is a haven from the world.
I'll be totally honest here. The temple hasn't always been easy for me to attend. BUT, when I do make the effort to go, even when I am tired or feeling frazzled, I STILL AM BLESSED WITH PEACE. The
world is more fast-paced than it's ever been and we literally
need...yes, need...this time for our minds, spirits, and bodies to take a
break from the freneticism of the world. Now, more than ever, we
need to give ourselves that quiet time to commune with God without the
distractions that beset us almost everywhere else we could otherwise
be.
So those are some nice blessings for us when we go to the temple, but what about the actual work you do while you're there?
“After we receive our own temple ordinances and make sacred covenants
with God, each one of us needs the ongoing spiritual strengthening and
tutoring that is possible only in the house of the Lord. And our
ancestors need us to serve as proxy for them." Russell M. Nelson
#3. Our ancestors are relying on us to perform important saving ordinances for them.
“This work is all about people. It’s about giving every one of our
Heavenly Father’s sons and daughters the chance to make covenants and
receive saving, exalting ordinances. It’s all about helping his children
return home to him.”-- Sheri Dew
I love that when we walk in the doors of the temple all people are
equal. We walk in the doors to do a selfless work of saving our
ancestors, and there are no distinctions of wealth, status, or position.
We all wear the same clothing, missionaries don't wear their tags, and
general authorities sit in the same seats with the rest of us. It's
actually a beautiful thing to behold....people from all walks of life
gathering together to do an important work that can't be done anywhere
else. And it doesn't matter to our ancestors whether a farmer, grocery
store clerk, or CEO is the one doing their work. They're just happy
it's being done. Think of the joy we facilitate on the other side of
the veil when we participate in temple work.
“Those who understand the eternal blessings which come from the temple
know that no sacrifice is too great, no price too heavy, no struggle too
difficult in order to receive those blessings.” Thomas S. Monson (source
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PRINTABLE ACTIVITY SHEET
THIS WEEK'S ACTIVITY SHEET LINK (in case it's not showing below)
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Have fun learning the gospel together and make sure to come back each week for a new activity sheet!
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