Heaven on Earth

On Saturday I finally made it to the Temple for the first time this year. It was wonderful. The Philadelphia Temple is so beautiful and the experience had many surprises that made my heart happy.

As I got into the elevator to go into the Temple from the parking garage, a man got in as well. He asked if I had a name to do. I said no, then he asked if I would do one for his family. I told him I'd love to. He handed me a card from a stack he had pulled out of his coat pocket. Knowing that I was helping a family made my time in the Temple more meaningful.

A couple from my ward was serving as Temple workers while I was there, which was especially comforting since I got a bit turned around and it helped to see a friendly face who also knew which direction I needed to go. And there was a couple in my session from the ward that shares our church building. They've sung in the choir the last two Christmases and we smiled and said hello.

When I go to the Temple I have a question that I'm prayerful about. This time I got two clear answers, both impressions that I've gotten before. The first is that I need to consistently get enough sleep. The second was that we have too much stuff and need to actively get rid of as much as we can. This has been on my mind for a few weeks, that if we had less stuff we would have more peace, more time to enjoy each other's company, fewer arguments about chores. The kids have been pushing back because, in Phoebe's words, they "love all the stuff!" But when I told them that the same answer came in the Temple, they all accepted it more readily. We'll see how it goes following that inspiration over the next few weeks.

My trip to the Temple was made possible by Bryan and the kids sacrificing their whole day. The Temple is an hour and a half each way, plus two hours at the Temple itself. That's too long away from Topher and too long to have Peter be in charge of the kids at home. So everyone came and sat in the waiting area and on the Temple grounds while I was inside. I had some pretty grumpy family members when I exited. But thankfully I was so renewed from my visit to the Temple that I had a lot more patience than usual.

I love the Temple.