I recently read Elder Christopherson’s
talk “Abide in My Love.” I have felt to abide in the Savior’s love
through temple attendance and its blessings. I wanted to relate the
following experiences that I have been blessed with through keeping the
commandment of temple attendance.
It has only been in the past year or so
that I have attended the temple regularly. I have made a commitment to go
on a weekly basis and have grown to love feeling the Spirit and participating
in the great and saving work that goes on within these beautiful heavenly
sanctuaries. Many times I have felt the presence of angels, family
members and the spirits of the beautiful sisters for whom I am receiving the
ordinances by proxy. I have also felt the sweet, loving, reassuring
presence of Heavenly Father and our Savior. I am so grateful for the
opportunity to serve and my heart burns with a testimony of the covenants and
promised blessings associated with temple ordinances.
Regular temple attendance has been a much
needed life-changing experience for me. As I have pondered on the
wonderful Spirit I have felt there, I remember the Lord’s desire to “always
have His spirit to be with us.” I recognize and am grateful for this
desire that the Lord has – to always be with us- and not only to always
be with us, but for us to be aware that He is with us, to feel His presence in
our lives, which in turn increases our love for Him and our faith in Him.
He in turn fills us with His love and a desire to love and serve others as He
loves and serves us. With that in mind I am trying each day to “Take Time
To Be Holy” (see beautiful lyrics of this song at the bottom of this post)
Through the simple act of having a
personal devotional before going to bed each night, I have come to realize that
I can have holy “temple” experiences within the walls of my own home. My
special place to experience these sacred moments is in my rocking chair in my
bedroom. I turn on a soft lamp and gospel-centered music on the Mormonchannel
(I love that app! J). Then I
begin writing in my gratitude journal. This journal is more than just a
recounting of things I am grateful for. It involves looking back on my
day with an open heart to feeling gratitude for the many experiences I have
had. I find that as I begin to think about all of the daily blessings
that I receive from the Lord’s hand, my heart softens and expands, and my
thoughts and emotions become centered on feeling gratitude for the things of
greatest value. These blessings most often relate to my interactions with
family, friends or even “strangers” (who are in reality our brothers and
sisters) that I had during the day. It might also be gratitude for the
beauties, both great and small, in nature that have come to my attention.
It might be the enjoyment of learning something new or having the eyes of my
spiritual understanding opened. It might be as simple as gratitude for
the help I receive in problem-solving a computer glitch, or the taste of a
really good grapefruit for breakfast. It might be gratitude for a healthy
body and the means to keep it functioning well.
When I write in my gratitude journal, I
can easily fill a page in just a few short minutes. I find, however, that
I like to take time and ponder as I write. When I do this, the Lord pours
His spirit out upon me. He blesses my soul with feelings of love, and my
mind with insights about many things that He desires me to know. If there
is something not right in my thoughts, actions or interactions with others that
occurred that day that hasn’t been resolved, He brings it to my attention and
helps me know how I can repent and reconcile and move forward with a clean
heart and mind. He speaks peace to my heart about things that are
troubling me. He brings joy to my heart and a smile to my face as He
helps me remember the good things in my life. He helps me to experience
and understand and feel humble reverence and gratitude afresh for the very real
effects and personal nature of His Atoning sacrifice for me.
Many times in the middle of writing and
pondering I will feel the overwhelming desire to fall on my knees and offer up
the feelings of my full heart to Father in Heaven. I find that when I
follow this prompting my prayers truly become expressions of loving reverence
and gratitude and also a holy and intimate communion with Him. I feel His
loving arms envelop me. This feeling is warm, comforting, loving,
peaceful and very, very personal. As I quietly listen, I hear His gentle
reassuring and guiding words in my mind. These beautiful moments of
prayer help me to truly know and understand in a very real way that Heavenly
Father knows me intimately, that our Savior knows me intimately. And I am
given an additional witness that Heavenly Father knows each one of us, His
children, intimately. It is an astoundingly sweet and beautiful reality
to contemplate!
When I rise from my knees I feel spiritually refreshed, uplifted
and nourished. Sometimes I will climb under the covers and just bask in
the spiritual glow with a heart full of thanksgiving. Other times I
desire to write down thoughts and feeling that I have experienced, or I will
feel prompted to organize the upcoming day, with the focus of prioritizing what
the Lord most desires me to accomplish, which is always is about how to connect
with and serve others. Sometimes I am prompted to read the scriptures or
other gospel-centered writings. Right now I am reading the Discourses of
President Gordon B. Hinkley Volume 1, which includes all of his general conference
addresses from 1995-1999. What a blessed experience to read his
encouraging and hopeful words and to feel his good spirit and the mantle of his
prophetic calling as I contemplate his inspiring messages and the
accomplishments he was able to bring into fruition in moving the work of the
Lord forward during his many years of devoted service! I am reminded we
all have our place and our work to do in Zion, and that Zion is built through
the individual faithfulness and efforts of each and every one of us. The
Lord needs all of us in a very real and crucial way.
I share these deeply personal experiences as my personal witness
that Heavenly Father and the Savior love us. They desire every one of us
to experience these sweetly intimate spiritual moments with them. As we
take the time for quiet contemplation each day and open up our hearts they will
come in and sup with us. Oh, then what a spiritual feast we can enjoy
through the Spirit! I bear my witness that the Father and the Son desire
us to know them, and to know that they are with us in every infirmity and
struggle and challenge of life. They are with us in the good times as
well as in the hard times. They send angels to attend us and to help us
along our path in life and to fulfill our missions here on earth. I am
grateful for their infinite love and power to help us and to heal us! I
bear this witness in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Take Time To Be Holy
- Take
time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;
Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.
Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak,
Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek. - Take
time to be holy, the world rushes on;
Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see. - Take
time to be holy, let Him be thy Guide;
And run not before Him, whatever betide.
In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,
And, looking to Jesus, still trust in His Word. - Take
time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,
Each thought and each motive beneath His control.
Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love,
Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.
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