Temple Thoughts

This week I was able to attend the temple to do baptisms for the dead. It had been a long time since I had been and was excited to be in the house of the Lord again. 

I parked my car somewhere near the back and walked through the beautiful gates of the temple. There was a beautiful bride and her sweetheart taking pictures. I couldn't help but smile as I became grateful for all of the many amazing blessings that come from the temple. 

I was expecting the font to be somewhat empty. It was 1:00 on a Saturday. Who goes to the temple for baptisms then? 

Apparently, everybody.

At first I felt a little annoyed - I was expecting only to be at the temple for at least an hour. The thought crossed my mind that maybe I could just do confirmations and call it good. But something told me to stay.

And I'm so glad I did.

After doing confirmations, they stuck us all in the chapel to wait until there was enough room by the font. I sat down next to my friend and began to patiently wait. All of the sudden, the people that were already sitting, started to sing a church hymn. I looked over at my friend, confused. I had never sang hymns in the temple before. 

But I sang anyway. At first, I felt a little silly, but then, as I began to look around the room at the pictures of Christ, I couldn't help but smile. I realized that each of us were sons and daughters of the same Heavenly Father. It felt like, for a moment, heaven. 

I looked around to each of us, wearing the same white temple jump suits, and felt a love for each and every one of the people in that room. None of us knew each other personally. We didn't know what anyone else was going through at home or what anybody else had done in their past, but I felt like we were the same - special and loved children of our Heavenly Father.

It was definitely a temple trip I will always remember.

One of the speakers in our sacrament meeting today spoke about the temple. He asked a question that caused me to think a lot. 

"Are we living in such a way that we are deserving eternal blessings that come from the temple?"

It made me think a lot about where I'm at in life right now. Am I making sure that I'm worthy to obtain all of the blessings that come from going to the temple regularly? Am I doing all that I can to prepare myself to go deeper into the temple someday and make covenants with my Heavenly Father? Am I preparing myself for a temple marriage? Am I becoming the person that I and God want me to become?

As I was listening to him speak, I thought of my temple trip yesterday and how thankful I am that I and my friend decided to stay and do both confirmations and baptisms. If we would have left, I wouldn't have been able to experience such a sweet moment. 

I hope that each of us will take the time to go to the temple when we can. There is something so special that comes from regular attendance. If you aren't worthy of a temple recommend - get worthy and then hold on tight to that piece of paper and never let it go. 

If you haven't gone all the way through the temple yet, prepare yourself now. Don't wait until you're going on a mission or getting married... be ready and worthy now.