Sacred Homes, Sacred Temples

Sacred Homes, Sacred Temples,
<sup>Elder Gary # Stevenson, April Conference 2009

Some Favorite Quotes</sup>

In the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin directed the Saints of his time and place to gather, “every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple.”As Church members, we have recently received counsel from modern-day prophets which, if followed, will turn the doors of our homes more fully towards the temple.

The First Presidency has invited

“adult members to have a current temple recommend and visit the temple more often” where time and circumstance permit and encouraged members

“to replace some leisure activities with temple service.”

They also encouraged “newer members and youth of the Church who are 12 years of age and older to live worthy to assist in this great work by serving as proxies for baptisms and confirmations.”⁴

Even our young children have been encouraged to visit the temple grounds and touch the temple.⁵ President Thomas S. Monson once counseled, “As we touch the temple, the temple will touch us.”⁶

6. In JoAnn Jolley, “A Shining Beacon on a Hill: Jordan River Temple Is Dedicated,” Ensign, Jan. 1982, 77: “Early in the week, Elder Thomas S. Monson of the Quorum of the Twelve suggested deep spiritual meaning in the physical presence of the temple. He recounted the late Elder Matthew Cowley’s story about a grandfather who took his small granddaughter on a birthday visit to the Salt Lake Temple grounds. With permission of the groundskeeper, they walked to the large doors of the temple. He suggested that she place her hand on the temple wall and then on the door, saying tenderly to her, ‘Remember that this day you touched the temple. One day you will enter this door.’ His special gift to his granddaughter was an appreciation for the House of the Lord. Likewise, counseled Elder Monson, ‘As we touch the temple, the temple will touch us.’ “

Take A Virtual Spiritual Tour of Your HOME

"Recently, in a stake conference, all present were invited by the visiting authority, Elder Glen Jenson, an Area Seventy, to take a virtual tour of their homes using their spiritual eyes. I would like to invite each of you to do this also. Wherever your home may be and whatever its configuration, the application of eternal gospel principles within its walls is universal. Let’s begin.

Imagine that you are opening your front door and walking inside your home.

What do you see, and how do you feel?

Is it a place of love, peace, and refuge from the world, as is the temple?

Is it clean and orderly?

As you walk through the rooms of your home, do you see uplifting images which include appropriate pictures of the temple and the Savior?

Is your bedroom or sleeping area a place for personal prayer? Is your gathering area or kitchen a place where food is prepared and enjoyed together, allowing uplifting conversation and family time?

Are scriptures found in a room where the family can study, pray, and learn together? Can you find your personal gospel study space?

Does the music you hear or the entertainment you see, online or otherwise, offend the Spirit?

Is the conversation uplifting and without contention?

That concludes our tour. Perhaps you, as I, found a few spots that need some “home improvement”—hopefully not an “extreme home makeover.”

Whether our living space is large or small, humble or extravagant, there is a place for each of these gospel priorities in each of our homes."

President Boyd K. Packer counseled: “Say the word temple. Say it quietly and reverently. Say it over and over again. Temple. Temple. Temple. Add the word holy. Holy Temple. Say it as though it were capitalized, no matter where it appears in the sentence.

“Temple. One other word is equal in importance to a Latter-day Saint. Home. Put the words holy temple and home together, and you have described the house of the Lord!”¹²

Temple

"Now is the time for labor. Let the FIRE of the COVENANT which you made in the House of the Lord, burn in your hears, like FLAME UNQUENCHABLE."

This was said by Brigham Young (at Winter Quarters) when encouraging brethren to help the refugees from Nauvoo who were suffering unimaginable hardship.
Quoted by Elder Bednar, April Conference 2009

Make Beauty

"Progress and improve upon and make beautiful everything around you. Cultivate the earth, and cultivate your minds. Build cities, make gardens, orchards and vineyards, and render the earth so pleasant that when you look upon your labors you may do so with pleasure, and that angels may delight to come and visit your beautiful locations. In the mean time continually seek to adorn your minds with all the graces of the Spirit of Christ." Pres. Brigham Young, quoted by Pres. Uchtdorf, Gen R.S. mtg. Sept. 2008

I Have Got The Oldest Book in My Heart

"I have an old edition of the New Testament in the Latin, Hebrew, German and Greek languages...I thank God that I have got this old book; but I thank him more for the gift of the Holy Ghost. I have got the oldest book in the world; but I have got the oldest book in my heart, even the gift of the Holy Ghost...The Holy Ghost...is within me, and comprehends more than all the world; and I will associate myself with him."

Jospeh Smith RS manual, 2007

Personal Revelation

"A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation;
for instance,
when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you,
it may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it,
you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon;
(i.e.) those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God will come to pass;
and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus."
Joseph Smith manual 2007

This Life is Your Reward

"...may I ask each of you a question, 'Who are you?' You are all the sons and daughters of God. Your spirits were created and lived as organized intelligences before the world was. You have been blessed to have a physical body because of your obedience to certain commandments in that premortal state. You are now born into a family to which you have come, into the nations through which you have come, as a reward for the kind of lives you lived before you came here and at a time in the world's history, as the Apostle Paul taught the men of Athens and as the Lord revealed to Moses, determined by the faithfulness of each of those who lived before this world was created."
(CR, Oct 1973, p. 7) President Harold B. Lee

Bliss isn't Normal

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed.
The fact is that most putts don't drop,
most beef is tough,
most children grow up to be just people,
most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration,
most jobs are more often dull than otherwise.
Life is like an old time journey...delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas, and thrilling bursts of speed.
The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

A quote used by President Gordon B. Hinckley

"Both ABUNDANCE and lack [of abundance] exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which
SECRET GARDEN


we will tend...
when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives
but are grateful for the ABUNDANCE that's present-
love,
health,
family,
friends,
work,
the joys of nature,
and personal pursuits that bring us [happiness]-
the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth."

Sarah Ban Breathnach quoted by Pres. Thomas S. Monson, Finding Joy in the Journey, Oct. 2008

Miracles

"By unwavering faith, we learn for ourselves that "it is faith that miracles are wrought."

Generally, those miracles will not be physical demonstrations of God's power-parting the Red Sea, raising of the dead, breaking down prison walls, or the appearance of heavenly messengers. By design, most miracles are spiritual demonstrations of God's power-tender mercies gently bestowed through
impressions,
ideas,
feelings of assurance,
solutions to problems,
strength to meet challenges,
and comfort to bear disappointments
and sorrow.

These miracles come to us as we endure what the scriptures call a 'trial of [our] faith."

Elder Robert D. Hales, Personal Revelation: The Teachings and Examples of the Prophets
October 2007

I Plead With You

"I plead with you
to control your tempers,
To put a smile upon your faces,
Which will erase anger;
Speak out with words of love
And peace, appreciation, and respect.

IF you will do this,
your lives will be without regret.
Your marriages and family relationships
Will be preserved.
You will be much happier.
You will do greater good.
You will feel a sense of peace that will be wonderful."

President Gordon B. Hinckley
October 2007

His last conference

Heavenly Father Loves Us

"Oh, it is wonderful to know that our Heavenly Father loves us-

even with all our flaws!
His love is such that even should we give up on ourselves,
He NEVER WILL.

We see ourselves in terms of
yesterday
and
today.
Our Heavenly Father sees us in terms of
FOREVER.

David B. Wirthlin
October 2007

God's love, heavenly home

"There is no spirit but what was pure and holy when it came here from the celestial world...He is the father of our spirits; and if we could know, understand, and do his will, every soul would be prepared to return back into his presence and when they get there [this is my favorite part] they will see that they had formerly lived there for ages, that they had previously been acquainted with every nook and corner, with the palaces, walks and gardens; and they would embrace their father, and he would embrace them and say, 'My son, my daughter, I have you home again.' And the child would say, 'Oh my father, my father, I am here again.'" (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 4:268)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I must have read this many years ago because it has become part of my soul. I yearn to have this memory restored to me; to walk the gardens and remember every nook and corner. Most especially I yearn to be in the arms of Heavenly Father and to see His face and hear His voice. Sometimes when in the temple these images come to mind and the yearning only becomes deeper rooted in my soul.

God Loves You

"We're the children of God
and as his children there is no attribute we ascribe to him that we do not possess,
though they may be dormant or in embryo.
Now this is the truth,
we humble people,
we who feel sometimes so worthless,
so good for nothing,
we are not so worthless as we think.
There is not one of us but what God's love has been expended upon.
There is not one of us that He has [not] cared for and carressed.
We may be insignificant and contemptible in our own eyes and in the eyes of others,
but truth remains that we are the children of God
and He has actually given His angels
-invisible beings of power and might-
charge concerning us,
and they watch over us and have us in their keeping."

President George Q. Cannon, Gospel Truth: Discourses and Writings of President George Q. Canon (quoted by A.G. Kapp, You are Better Than You Think, p. 42)