I went to the Bountiful, Utah Temple last Thursday. I was planning on doing a session but there was a need for help with sealings(for questions on what a session or sealing ordinance is, go to www.lds.org or www.mormon.org) so that is what I did. The Bountiful Temple just re-opened after it's winter cleaning. There are 47 new paintings in the Temple. A Brother working there took me around to see them. I highly recommend taking the time to walk around and see this new art.
While at the temple, there was a man there in a wheel chair. He could not use the right side of his body. I've often wondered how someone with physical limitations participated in things at the temple, I knew you could, I just had never seen it. He just used his left hand. It made me think about how so many things are about our intent and where our heart is. The Lord doesn't care that that Brother couldn't use his right side. It was enough for us to do it a little differently. Also in that room, when a woman was kneeling, I noticed the price tags on the bottom of her shoes. They were from Desert Industries (For my out of state friends, the D.I. is also very similar to the Salvation Army.). I don't know if that woman just loves to shop at thrift stores or if that really all she could afford. But it didn't matter. So often in life we take notice of someones hair, the labels on their clothes. What kind of car they drive or how clean their home is. We are quick to point the finger, to look at someones short comings. To say that their wrong-doing against us in unforgivable or that because of a struggle or mis-step they are a horrible person. When in the Temple, we don't know where people bought their shoes. We don't know what kind of car they came in or if they even drove. We don't know of their sins or their struggles. We don't know anything about them except for one thing- They are there for the same reason we are- to serve and feel the spirit.
No one is perfect but what matters is one's accountability, their intent and if they are trying to do/be good? Who am I to judge? Who are you to judge? None of us are perfect. We all make mistakes, lie, mess up and hurt others. But isn't that what life is about? Making mistakes, and then learning to do differently? I know that the Lord doesn't care where my shoes came from. I know he knows my heart and my intent. I guess what I am trying to say is that in that moment, it was awesome. It was awesome to realize that none of it mattered. What I do for a living, where my jeans are from, that my car was dirty, that someone had wronged me that day. What mattered was that I was serving and that I was at peace. I guess I hope I can take that thought and feeling outside of the temple and use it in my everyday life. I'd like to have that happen all over with everyone but I know one mass, worldwide, group hug just isn't going to happen. What I do know, is that I am in control of my thoughts and feelings. I know that the next time I go to judge or to be offended or that the next time someone does hurt me, that I'm going to remember that it doesn't matter. We all have our struggles and burdens. But we are all children of God.
That takes me to another thought...I was reading in the March Ensign the First Presidency Message (maybe I should have just pasted the article here)....it does a much better job of portraying what I am going to say! At the close of it says this: "We have a choice. We can seek for the bad in others. Or we can make peace and work to extend to others the understanding, fairness, and forgiveness we so desperately desire for ourselves. It is our choice; for whatever we seek, that we will certainly find." -By President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency
For the full article, click on this link:
Ya know, that is what I am trying to say. And I am grateful for the experience I had in reading that article and sharing it with some people I care about. I am grateful for the realization I had in the Temple about just how much the small stuff doesn't matter. I am so grateful for that. I want people to know that I have a testimony of being kind and of forgving. I am grateful for a husband who is my best friend, with whom tomorrow I wil be in the temple with.
No comments:
Post a Comment