October 27, 2013

Mom’s Talk: Blessings of the Temple


I often feel a lot of stress before attending the temple, much like all stress I feel before giving a talk.  The difference is that when I give a talk I am stressed until I finish and sit down whereas the stress is often relieved the moment I walk through the temple doors. 
Yes, the power of Satan is real.  He works hard to keep us from going to the temple.  It is easy to come up with many excuses to not go to the temple.  I often stress about leaving my children.  One time while living in Virginia my one year old screamed the whole four hours that I was gone to the temple.  I felt bad for my little girl and also for the babysitters!  I also stress about fitting in the time when there are so many other things to get done.  We all live very busy lives.  We have to remember that there is good, better and best.  Much of what we do in this life falls into the categories of good or better, but attending the temple is something that is best! Satan will do everything in his power to keep us from going to the temple because he knows that within the Lord’s House we are greatly blessed. 
The blessings received in the temple have eternal consequences.  I speak not only of the blessings that come from the covenants that are made within those walls but also of the personal revelations that guide us as we strive to navigate this mortal life. 
The first blessings I would like to address are those that come directly from making and keeping the covenants.  These blessings apply to all if we live worthy.  We also have the chance to share these blessings with others who have gone before us as we perform the ordinances for them.
The first of these ordinances, which are blessings from God if we do our part, are baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost.  These are a little different than the other ordinances that are done in the temple.  When we are baptized for ourselves it is not done in the temple but after we are baptized and turn twelve we are allowed to go into the temple and be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost for those who didn’t have that chance here on earth.  The blessings that come from being baptized include having our sins washed away!  What a huge blessing! I remember when I was baptized that I giggled and giggled with delight.  The Holy Ghost was so strong and I knew I was doing just what Heavenly Father wanted me to do.  It was my first major step leading me to the temple.  Each week I am grateful that I get to partake of the sacrament and renew my baptismal covenants.  What a blessing to be clean each week.  Not only are we clean when we are baptized but we also become members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which means that we get to be part of another family!  I have always felt so blessed that no matter where we move or visit, we have family, people that are willing to love us and serve us, a place where we feel like we belong.  I remember one time I was in Europe and we visited a German ward, I couldn’t understand anything they said, but I realized that the church is the same everywhere; the people were warm and inviting.  We were family!  When we go to the temple, we can help others also join this family and have their sins washed away.  Then when we receive the Holy Ghost we are blessed even more!  Heavenly Father just wants to bless us over and over again, we mean everything to him!  When we receive the Holy Ghost we are able to have him with us.  He can teach us, guide us, comfort us and testify to us of the truth of the gospel and of the other things that we will learn in the temple, whether of the things pertaining to the ordinances or the concerns of our minds. 
The other ordinances are done for the living and the dead at the temple these consist of the ordinations, initiatory, endowment and sealing.  “The ordinances of washing and anointing are all personal. The covenants are personal. We cannot find them spelled out in the scriptures. These things were not meant for the people of the world until they prepare themselves.” (2) 
Slivia Allred (3) taught us that “The initiatory ordinances provide us with specific immediate and future blessings.  The endowment embodies sacred covenants. It includes receiving instruction, power from on high, and the promise of blessings on condition of our faithfulness to the covenants we make.  President Brigham Young defined the endowment the following way:  “Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father … and gain your eternal exaltation.” 6 .
Robert D. Hales (1) tells us that “Endowment instructions give guidance as to how we should conduct our lives here in mortality.” and that “The temple endowment blessings are as essential for each of us as was our baptism. For this reason we are to prepare ourselves that we may be clean to enter the temple of God.”  God wants to continue to bless us.  Let us live worthy to receive not just some of His blessings, but ALL of his blessings!
Doctrine and Covenants teach us a lot about the blessings that come through a temple sealing.  The temple is the only place where husband and wife can be married “in time, and through all eternity” (D&C 132:19).  I am so grateful that I can be with my husband forever.  It doesn’t end at the end of this earthly life.  But, Heavenly Father doesn’t stop His blessings there.  Doctrine and Covenants 131 and 132 teaches that by being sealed you can be exalted in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ (D&C 131:1–3; 132:23–24).  Wow! And the blessings keep coming.  Doctrine and Covenants also says that we will “inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities,… powers, [and] dominions” (D&C 132:19).  It promises that if we keep our covenant that we will continue to have spirit children, throughout eternity (D&C 132:19, 30–31; see also D&C 131:4) and that we “shall be gods, because they have all power” (D&C 132:20–21).  So not only are we blessed to live with our family together forever, we get to live with God and Jesus Christ and continue to be blessed throughout eternity with ALL that Heavenly Father has!  What AMAZING blessings Heavenly Father has waiting for us.  We need to prepare ourselves, live righteously and go to the temple!
“The temple is a house of learning. Much of the instruction imparted in the temple is symbolic and learned by the Spirit. This means we are taught from on high. Temple covenants and ordinances are a powerful symbol of Christ and His Atonement. We all receive the same instruction, but our understanding of the meaning of the ordinances and covenants will increase as we return to the temple often with the attitude of learning and contemplating the eternal truths taught.” (3) 
This makes me think of the instruction that we are given to continually read our scriptures.  Every time we read we are blessed with more knowledge.  Yes, they are the same words that we are reading, but we read them as a different person each time.  The first time we come knowing little and just feeling the spirit as we read the words.  The next time, maybe, we are dealing with a different stage of live and trying to figure out how to make it through.  Different parts will stand out, and will guide you.  Then we read them again, this time having gained a better understanding of them.  We are able to read through those parts we understand better and focus on another part of the scriptures.  After we have a basic understanding, we are prepared to have a deeper understanding.  Reading the scriptures the first time is amazing!  So is going to the temple.  But just like the more we read the scriptures, the more of a role they play in our lives; the more we are blessed by them.  So it is with the temple, the more often we return, the more we understand the more of a role it plays in our lives; the more we are blessed!
This leads into the second type of blessing.  It is very personal and affects each person differently.  “In the temple -- we may also receive revelation directly from God. Our contact with him in that setting is sweet, sacred, and personal.” (2)
There is no other place on earth that we can be nearer to God then within the walls of His home. 
We are blessed to live so close to so many of his beautiful homes here on earth; we see them daily as we go about our business.  Do you notice them?  At times I am so caught up in the everyday hustle of life.  I miss the big huge beautiful mountains that tower over us, I miss the song of the birds around me, and I miss the peace of the temple.  I have to be reminded and focus on it.  When #1 Girl was a little girl, before she could talk she signed.  Every single time we stepped out of our basement apartment she would say, “bb” and begin to sign ‘bird.’  It wasn’t until she signed it that I was reminded the birds were out.  They would be singing loudly, but I had tuned them out.  I didn’t hear them until I had that reminder.  After repeatedly stepping out the door and seeing #1 Girl sign ‘bird’ I started to also hear them the moment the door opened.  I began to let that beauty back in my life.  That is what we need to do with the temples!  We might need reminders or someone helping us to get there for a while, but hopefully we will get to the point that we open the door and let the beauty of His temple enter back into our lives. 
 “The temple is truly a place where you are “in the world and not of the world.” When you are troubled and have crucial decisions that weigh heavily on your mind and soul, you can take your cares to the temple and receive spiritual guidance.” (1)
I love the example of Hannah in the scriptures.  She wanted a son. She had longed for a son for so long.  Then she went to the temple.  “And she was in a bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore.” (1 Sam. 1:10)  She was praying for a son.  As she prayed her lips moved but no words came out.  The priest Eli wondered if she was drunk but she told him she had been praying.  He then “answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.” (1 Sam. 1:17 -18)  Hannah had found peace in the moment and later received her son, whom she dedicated to the Lord.
Elder Packer taught us that "At the temple the dust of distraction seems to settle out, the fog and the haze seem to lift, and we can 'see' things that we were not able to see before and find a way through our troubles that we had not previously known." (4)  We have the chance to clear our view, to find a path through our trials.  I think as the Second Coming gets nearer, the way will be harder.  We will need extra strength.  That strength and guidance can be found within the temple.  No wonder President Hinckley pushed forward the work of building temples.  They are needed more and more for each one of us!  President Monson said, "As we touch the temple and love the temple, our lives will reflect our faith. As we go to the holy house, as we remember the covenants we make therein, we will be able to bear every trial and overcome each temptation."
We are also taught “If we worship [in the temple] often, we will know better how to prepare our children. But we cannot have its spirit if we don’t go regularly.” (2)  Isn’t that something that each of us as parents wants and need as we help prepare our children in this ever challenging world.  We look for help in raising our children in books, on the internet, and by asking other parents.  They are good resources.  I have used all of these at different times in my life helping me to figure out how to raise my children.  However, none of these know all the challenges they will face.  Heavenly Father does and He loves them dearly!  He has placed these children in our watchful care.  He knows how best to prepare them for the challenges they are facing or will face one day.  He loves each of us!
Heavenly Father wants to bless each one of us.  He wants to lead us and guide us.  Through attending His Holy House we can be eternally blessed.  Prepare yourself for these covenants! Go to the Temple! Live righteously!  Then go again to the temple!  And again!  And again!  As you continually go to the temple you will be blessed again and again and again!  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Quotes:
(1)   Blessings of the Temple - Elder Robert D. Hales – Oct. 2009
(2)   Four Blessings of the Temple – Harold Glen Clark – Oct. 1983
(3)   Holy Temples, Sacred Covenants - Silvia H. Allred - Oct 2008
(4)    The Holy Temple - Boyd K. Packer - Oct. 2010
(5)    Blessings of the Temple —Thomas S. Monson – Oct. 2010

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