Our Thoughts on the Temple
Posted on February 4th, 2008 by mormonwomen
The Relief Society Declaration states that Mormon Women “rejoice in the blessings of the temple.” The temple represents our eternal hopes and goals and potential. It also is a place where we learn more about the Savior, Jesus Christ, and about the blessings of eternal marriage and family relationships. The temple helps us know how to find peace in this life, and helps us prepare for eternal life.
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Filed under: Basic Doctrines, Our Thoughts
The temple, to me, is the pinacle of our experience in the gospel and in this life. We talk about the atonement but few realize that serving in the temple is the atonement in action. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke at a fireside for Boston Temple workers and explained this point. Every time we attend the temple, we need to forgive someone of something. Even if it is forgiving ourselves, we need to partake of the atonement in this way. When you think about that, we usually equate the atonement with repentance and being saved from our sinful, mortal lives. What better way for us to show our gratitude than by serving in the temple and doing for others what the Saviour has done for us. We are literally saving those who have gone on before us and doing for them what they cannot do for themselves.
We talk of Service. We know from the scriptures that if we don’t have Charity, we have nothing. The greatest service we can render is to serve in the temple.
We talk of finding peace and being in the world but not of the world. When we enter the temple, we leave the world behind us. We enter the REAL world. If we could draw back the veil, we would see that we are not alone in the temples. Not only are those people there who are getting their work done but there are countless people and prophets from ages past. The temple is like an open conduit to heaven and if we prepare ourselves and enter in the right frame of mind, we will get the revelations and inspirations we are searching for.
I know and have experienced the sweet peace the temple brings. I know that as we serve in the temple on a regular basis, our lives will be better, our businesses will be more successful, we will perform better at work, our family relationships will be better, our marriages will be better, our children will fight less, we will fight less, we will find more time in our day to do those things that will make the biggest difference in our eternal salvation. I have seen this in action too many times to doubt. There is nothing in our life that cannot be made better by attending the temple on a regular basis.
I know people who went through for themselves and then never came back. It saddens me to know they have missed the whole point. The temple is about service. Service to the Lord, to others and to ourselves. It is the atonement. It is becoming something greater than ourselves and the only way that can happen is if we unselfishly lift others with us.
I am grateful for the conviction and testimony I have of the temple. I am grateful for the peace, serenity and comfort being within its walls offers in such an unsettling world. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the Lord and others, showing my love and gratitude for the many blessings given to me. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve my family and my ancestors. Mostly, I am grateful for a safe haven in which to commune with my saviour.