Great Sabbath and Temple Dedication

*** Disclaimer - this is a personal, "religious," and could be construed by some as a "preachy" post. If you prefer to steer away from such posts - start steering now. (and it's really long - but I had a great day today, and I don't want to leave any of it out - so there you have it...)



Today was a great Sabbath. Sacrament meeting was so fantastic. There was a new couple in the ward that spoke, and they did a fantastic job. Sister B talked about how she "floated along" in the LDS community she grew up in, surrounded by LDS friends and family, but never really pushing herself to gain her own testimony. She plays violin with the Mormon tabernacle Orchestra and shared a few stories of experiences she had had playing with them. You can't get the jist by reading this - just know that it was a spiritual feast for me.

Another nice thing that happened today was that I got a very nice compliment from Sister R in Primary today. (she's a member of the stake primary presidency that was visiting our primary today) It was after the jr primary had gone to class, and I was back talking to her before sr. Primary started. She talked about the little impromptu lesson I taught the children - basically teaching the Easter Story. She said that she felt the spirit so strongly, that she was going to talk to Sister W (our ward primary president) to remind the adult leaders in the back of the room that they need to be quiet and listen. She said, "I wish every adult in the ward could have sat in here today and listened to you teach the children that lesson. And to watch how entranced the children were. It was such a testimony to me that when the spirit is present, the children are totally engaged." She went on to say, "those children, what? 3 years old? were just listening so intently, soaking it up."
I was touched by her compliment. I try pretty hard to teach and follow the spirit, but feel that I fall short more often than I hit the mark, but still, there are days when it all works - and I am grateful for those days.

I write in personal journal using an online site, and one of the features is a "journal jar," that asks questions to start you thinking about things you can journal about. Usually I just ignore the question, but I found it interesting that today's question was
"something really important that happened in the world today is..."
My answer???
the Draper Utah Temple was dedicated. That may not seem super significant to some, now that the church had about 128 operating temples, with more under construction; but the truth is, it is a wonderful blessing to live at a time on the earth when temples literally dot the earth. They have been announcing that the final dedicatory session would be broadcast to the Stake Centers in Utah, which would be operated as "mini-temples" for the evening. We had to shown temple recommends to get in. Any baptized member could be interviewed for a "limited use" recommend and Aaron kept saying he wanted one and wanted to go. I was pretty worried about taking him. Any of you who know Aaron - know that he doesn't really sit still and be quiet very well. He doesn't seem to know how to whisper, and he gets bored during regular church and primary, when he can do more things - how could he possibly sit through the dedication???
I didn't openly discourage him from going, but I didn't paint a rosy "it will be so wonderful and you will love it" picture either. I told him it would be long, and he might think it was boring. But I promised him that if he tried really hard to sit quietly and listen with his heart to his feelings, that he would feel the spirit of the temple during the meeting. He still wanted to go, so today he got his limited use recommend . (truth be told, he was mostly excited about getting the recommend - he thought that was "AWESOME." - that HE could have his own temple recommend!)
Anyway - We were told to be in our seats 30 minutes before the start of the session, and that the doors of the church would be locked, in order to prevent late comers from disrupting the spiritual nature of the meeting. Ya - add another 30 minutes for a wiggly little man to sit still and be quiet... I took a couple bible crossword puzzles for him to work on during the "prelude time." Ones where he found the answer to the clue by reading a verse in the bible. He worked on those quietly until the meeting started. (with a little help from me.) About an hour into the time, he was getting bored, but he was a trooper! (he just had to lie his head on my lap and rest for a while while he hopefully listened)
After President Monson read the dedicatory prayer we did the Hosanna shout -waving our white handkerchiefs. Aaron thought that part was great. Then he sat down and proceeded to fold his handkerchief into an airplane. I didn't bother telling him to stop, I figure Heavenly Father knows all about little boys; after all, He made them the way they are, and he LOVES them just the way they are! I figured He was PROUD of Aaron for so many reasons today. (as was I) Proud of him for loving the temple and being so totally excited to have his own recommend. For wanting to go be a part of the dedication. For sitting there for 2 full hours - not disrupting the peace of the meeting.

Tonight when I went to tuck him in, I asked Aaron about his day; what was good, bad, or whatever. He thought for a minute, then said, "I really liked the temple dedication." I was a little surprised actually, since during the drive home all he had to say about it was that it was long and kind of boring, and the prayer was "three pages long!!!" - apparently his eyes weren't closed during the prayer eh?) but I was very glad to hear it. It made it totally worth going. Every now and then I get little glimpses like this of Aaron that make feel like we are doing okay as parents, and that he has a testimony and that he is moving along in the right direction. I know there is so much more I need to do, and do better, (and more consistently), but we are doing ok. He is a good boy. He has a strong spirit that desires to do good. (most of the time) I have faith that if we step up our efforts to teach and lead in righteousness, he will continue to choose to follow the example we set. There will be roadblocks and pitfalls along the way, but I have faith that he will be okay. He will choose the right.

Living the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to find lasting happiness. The fullness of the gospel and church of Jesus Christ have been restored to the earth in this, the fullness of times, through the prophet Joseph Smith. We are lead today by a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson. These are perilous times in which we live, but if we follow the prophet, we will be able to withstand the buffetings of Satan and we will have peace, even in times of turmoil. This I know to true, with all my heart.