What I really should be doing right now is preparing my lesson for Sunday on "the purpose of life." Meh. Don't get me wrong, it's a great topic, but I've got too much else on my mind that must be gotten out of my brain so I can move onto what I have to do instead of what I want to do. Actually maybe I should just talk about his post to my girls…perhaps!
I'm a thinker. In fact I spend a great deal of time thinking. My husband thinks that if he lived with my brain he would be exhausted all the time. Sometimes I do weigh myself down too much in thought, especially over things that are completely out of my circle of influence, but I still like to understand and store away lessons for later that will be in my circle.
This morning started out like every other. Only I spent a good deal of the night waking up to scratch my itchy skin. My husband can sleep through almost anything or at least fall right back to sleep after being woken. Three or four times he woke to the sound of my scratching and grabbed my hands and held them while he was sleeping. It was a pretty restless night, but I managed to get the kids up for seminary and study my scriptures. I then said my prayers and asked again for something to do. I wanted help knowing what I was supposed to be doing and wondering how I could be useful.
It was then off to an 8 am parent teacher conference for my youngest. This is the teacher that I had a rotten core educational talk with. As she was telling me of some of her struggles in the class and in particular with some rowdy boys, I asked how her volunteer schedule looked. She hadn't been letting any parents in to volunteer until very recently when she decided to ask one of the dads to help out so he could be a positive influence on a couple of boys. I asked if she thought more help would be beneficial to her and the class. She actually got excited. I thought she would tell me no so that she didn't have to work with the anti- mom. Guess who's going into class every friday? Yep, that's right. I knew right then when I was having the conversation that it was something I was supposed to do. Sweet. Mission accomplished….It's not everyday you can say that.
It was my day to work at the temple and there was a lot I needed to get done before I could leave….because I had forgotten to do anything about my son's birthday today. The 2 little ones went with me to the store to pick out a gift for him and we decided to get some decorations (that will be the next post) and something good they could have for lunch. Emma and Jared still had school today even thought the littles didn't. Emma had to go in so she could finish up her super computing challenge that she has to present at the college on Sat. I thought Jared would want to go in to work on his robot but when I told him that because it was his birthday, he had the option if he went in or not. To my complete surprise he said he wanted to stay home. Yet another answer to my prayer. I didn't know how I was going to leave the littles alone for 5 hours with no way to communicate with me, but I had a back up plan ready to enact if Jared wanted to go to school. Sweet beautiful day. Did I mention that the sun was out and there was no wind and it was no jacket kinda weather. There is sunshine in my soul today…..
I started off my volunteer session running into the librarian from my ward. I love her so much and she quickly asked me about my iPad on Sunday and if I thought I could help her to not hate hers. I agreed and when I saw her again today she told me she had a group together for me to teach and wanted to set it up ASAP. We talked about some possible days but I couldn't commit to anything without my calendar which was not in my possession. She was so excited though and I'm happy to have her and her friends love theirs as much as I love mine. It has become a sacred piece of technology for me, not for the technologies sake, but for what it has on it. All my scriptures, Ensigns, study manuals, books, notes everything that is precious to me.
One of the things I do while I'm at the temple is sealings. Today I got to do 2 sessions -they last an hour each. I started thinking while I was there…big surprise! I had taken in a bunch of my own names. I was able to do my Great Nan and her husband and I also did some more direct decedents on both lines, mostly children sealed to parents. The sealer was interested in my names and kept asking me questions about them. There was also a dear friend that I work with that was in there with me. She is very much "less active" but she works at the temple often and her husband is inactive and so is her adult daughter. My husband is their home teacher and I just love seeing her there. Well, I guess me having all my names got her thinking - more on that later.
What I was thinking about was the book I just finished up. I keep talking about it. Sorry, can't help it. I'm telling you, my brain doesn't turn off. I was thinking about a beautiful passage while kneeling at the alter. "Here are my eyes; together we will look upon the beauty of the Lord's house. Here are my ears; let us hear the words of eternal life. Here are my lips; we will make sacred covenants. Here are my hands; together we will receive the gifts of life everlasting. Here are my knees; kneel with me at the altars of salvation, there to become one with all those we both love. I will remember you." I told you - It's beautiful and it's from "House of Glory."
A little later I had another thought from the book. I was at the alter to seal a son to his mother and father. The stand in's (us) for this family were a hispanic man for the father, me a white girl for the mother and a black man for the son. I couldn't stop looking at how beautiful the three hands of very different colors looked together. Again from the same book: 'There are no races or nationalities in the temple. There are only the Lord's people, all children of the same Father, all brothers and sisters of the same Christ and of each other, all of tremendous worth to their Father in Heaven. This understanding makes our offering so much more "acceptable." How wonderful it is to hear Samoan brothers speak the names of German immigrants, or Cambodian sisters trying to pronounce Finnish names.' Then he quotes President Hinckley: "If there is any work in all the world that demonstrates the universality of God's love, it is the selfless work that goes on in these sacred houses." What I had just been reading had come to life before my very eyes. I almost told everyone how awesome it was and then I thought better of it and decided to keep it to myself.
After this I was a greeter at the front entrance. There isn't a lot of traffic with endowment sessions being so far apart and I wasn't working when anyone would be coming in. I decided to try out something that Elder Bednar says he likes to do. He picks a topic and then copies and cuts out all the scripture references for that topic. He then lays them all out on his desk so he can mark them up and categorize them and see what he can learn from this method. Well, I couldn't do all that, but I could read every reference in the topical guide under "sanctification" - my new favorite word. I already have some ideas of how things are going to look and what things I might be thinking about when I see them all laid out like that. It was interesting just looking up the "see also" suggestions. I'm getting pretty excited about my new project. Get ready to hear lots about sanctification soon ;0)
After this I stopped at the desk and asked to see our wards "family file" (it's were people leave ordinance work to be done for their ancestors) There were a bunch of sealings that needed to be done. As I walked past the chapel I ran into the sister I was doing sealings with previously and she asked "how do you get those cards?" She hasn't done any family history and wanted to know how. I talked to her about all the new developments that I learned about on Saturday and how exciting it was. She then told me that her husband has a book of family history that he has. None of it has been recorded into family search. Hot dog! This is going to be fun. I told her that I would come over anytime and help her and her husband get rocking and rollin. My husband was super excited too….."can I go too, that totally counts as home teaching." "Yes dear." :0)
With an ernest pleading and a willingness to look and listen, I was given some pretty awesome projects to do today. Sometimes blessing just seem to flow and other times it seems like the river of blessings is all dried up……which surprisingly enough leads me to another quote….I love quotes! In the book about the temple again, Wilcox goes into great deal talking about Ezekiel and the vision he had of the temple and the water that was flowing in the desert giving life to everything. He said: "latter-day temples are the source of a powerful, deeply refreshing river. It is a river of peace, revelation truth, light, and priesthood power. But above all else, it is a river of love." And then later he says: "We learn from Ezekiel that the water of the river does two things to everything it touches: it gives life and it heals. The life it produces will not 'fade,' and that which it heals will live forever. The temple's flowing water will heal and give life to our marriages. It will give life to and heal our families. The Church will flourish and become strong and vital as will our individual lives as we plant ourselves near its banks and draw its moisture into our souls."
Where am I at in this river? I'm not sure, like him, sometimes. Today? I feel like I'm in all the way. I'm sure upon closer examination I would realize that I am in much less than I thought. Maybe only to my knees or ankles. What fun would it be if I've already experienced all there was to experience? He says not to get discouraged if you feel like your feet are barely wet "wade in again and again. In time you will feel the water rise and your understanding deepen."
How to wrap this all up? I love the temple! I feel myself wading deeper and deeper into the waters. It has expanded my view. It has given me light and knowledge. It has helped me to see more of The Plan. I can more easily see how everything fits together. It gets easier for me to hear the council of my Heavenly Father. It is the most amazing, glorious, miraculous, joyful thing ever.
One more quote….or maybe 2…haven't decided yet. Sheri Dew said "conversion requires immersion. Immersion in truth. Immersion in the scriptures. Immersion in the temple. Immersion through fasting, prayer and time to contemplate the things of heaven." And also "The more we know about the Lord Jesus Christ the more we will want to know. The more we testify about what we know, the more it will become integral to who we are." Pretty great quotes, right?
OK so I decided to use one last one, because it is good, and it wraps up everything I want to say by posting this little acknowledgement of divinity. The knowledge that I am blessed beyond what I deserve. The knowledge that if I'm willing to do the work, the Lord has a work for me to do.
"We have not been asked to store wheat (ummmm, I am), as were our sister of yesteryear. We have not been required to pull handcarts over Rocky Ridge. But we have been asked to store faith. We have been asked to be pure in a world that increasingly mocks purity. We have been asked to increase our capacity to receive revelation and pull down the power from heaven that God has granted His endowed sisters. We have been asked to model how women of God look and act- not only as beacons for the rising generation but for all of the house of Israel. We have been asked to stand tall and stand together in speaking for what we know to be true and right and divine." Taken from Women and the Priesthood
I think I just may have convinced myself that this totally fits into "the purpose of life" -- now how to make it an interactive lesson????? I may just have to stick with stuff I've already worked on for the lesson. Besides, it's got one of the most memorable talks from conference -ever- in it. The "your happily ever after talk." I guess there's no rest for my brain tonight :)
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