Into Eternity

Lately the cares of life seem to be creeping up and surrounding me and I find myself running to and fro and not spending as much time doing those things that would draw me closer to my Heavenly Father and the Savior.  As the first month of the year finished up, I lamented that I hadn't made an opportunity to get myself to the temple.  I felt terrible starting a new year where I didn't do something that was so important to me.

I miss the peace I find there in the temple.  Even just looking at a picture of it makes me remember how much I need that peace.

Fort Lauderdale Florida Temple

I looked at life and it seems to be swirling all around me making it hard to find time to make it down to our temple.  I feel a lot like the word from "Mater the Tempest is Raging" (words by Mary Ann Baker):

Master, the tempest is raging!

The billows are tossing high! 

The sky is o’ershadowed with blackness.

No shelter or help is nigh.

 

 Sometimes it feels like we have to make it through the raging eye of the storm just to make it to the temple.  We don't have to do it alone, we can do our best and the Lord can help with the rest.  " I will go in the strength of the Lord God" (Psalms 71:16).

 

Why?  Why do I yearn to go to the temple so much?  President Gordon B. Hinckley explained, "Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are sacred structures in which these and other eternal questions are answered. Each is dedicated as a house of the Lord, a place of holiness and peace set apart from the world. There truths are taught and ordinances are performed that bring knowledge of things eternal and motivate the participants to live with an understanding of our divine inheritance as children of God and an awareness of our potential as eternal beings."  ("Why These Temples?", Oct 2010)

Not only do we find the temple as a place to take ourselves out of the cares of the world for a moment, but it is also the center of making our family relationships last forever.  In my scripture reading this week, I read that Nephi--the son of Helaman--received a revelation where he was blessed with the Priesthood power to seal.  "Behold, I give unto you power, that whatsoever ye shall seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven; and thus shall ye have power among this people." (Helaman 10:7)

A Sealing Room in the Temple

I am thankful for the blessing of having my family sealed in one of these temples.  Years ago when my husband proposed to me we were standing in a building that overlooked the Salt Lake Temple.  When asked how far we could see, the reply was "Forever".  As we enter the temple and live Christ-centered lives, our perspective is moved from the "here and now" to an eternal perspective.

So, even though life is whirling around me, if I keep my eye on the temple and my heart on my Savior, I can have peace and the perspective to face all that life has in store.  Again from "Master the Tempest is Raging":

The winds and the waves shall obey thy will:

Peace, be still.

Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea

Or demons or men or whatever it be,

No waters can swallow the ship where lies

The Master of ocean and earth and skies.

They all shall sweetly obey thy will:

Peace, be still; peace, be still.

They all shall sweetly obey thy will:

Peace, peace, be still.