This is a fairly long story, and starts in a very round about way. A few of MONTHS ago I had a picnic with my cohort from university, and I had to walk right by this building in order to get to the park. On the way up to the park, a friend and I noticed a trail of yellow and purple hearts that had been painted on the sidewalk. We theorized as to why someone would paint hearts on the sidewalk; my first thought was that it was a Spirit Week prank for some local high school. My friend thought it must have been a proposal. We enjoyed our picnic, and as we walked home, we decided to follow the hearts. We found that they ended in the park but we needed to find where they started. So we did! In case you are curious the hearts stop in front of the apartment complex named Raintree. Below is a map of the path, the red X marks where I live and the large white circle towards the bottom is a college football stadium (for scaling purposes). The white arrow points to the LDS Temple above.
Anyway, so later that week, we were able to listen to a message on the Sabbath talking about the importance of the temples. I really was touched by the necessity to find our ancestors and be connected to them. Through my service as a temple ordinance worker, I have really come to appreciate the sanctity that comes through the temple ordinances and helping others receive those blessings and peace. I am often reminded of how often, growing up, my mom would try to get me to index or look at genealogy work; I was never really interested. That all changed in this last year, I took an introduction to genealogy course at the university at the same time that I started working as an ordinance worker. Now, I feel the need to do genealogical research, when I am bored I do indexing of records on line, and I am frustrated that life and money get in the way of my finding my ancestors. I am astonished at how grounding the knowledge of our family can be in our lives, even without knowing anything about their lives other than dates and places. To look at that list of names and places and know "That is where I came from; without them I wouldn't be here today, here in school, here in life, here!"
A few days latter that week, Thursday to be exact, I had some extra time and was watching sappy chick-flicks, and was a little emotional, and I felt so very unlovable. The therapist in me could ask myself if this idea was logical, and if this belief was helping or hurting me, and if there was any proof or evidence that I was unlovable, but it didn't matter. I could reasonably answer those questions with the proper responses, but emotionally I had proof, and it made perfect sense that I was unlovable, and I was just being realistic so it didn't really matter that I was hurting. So as I was having this debate between the rational me and the emotional me I decided to take a walk. My walk took me right up to the temple where I sat on the grass for about half an hour and was blessed by the ever so common response to my prayers which was "Be still, and know that I am God". As I sat there I was filled with the love that God has for me, and the rational/emotional war within myself disappeared. Rationality returned and I was able to go home, feeling better, loved, and once again sane.
I am continually astonished at the peace and comfort that I receive just being on the temple grounds. I remember in Spain that people would cut through the temple grounds on their walk to the store or metro station because they loved the spirit they felt there. When approached by missionaries they were never interested but they clearly recognized that there is something special about that area. How grateful I am that I have such a refuge so close to my apartment! What a great blessing it is that on this earth there are 140 temples with more on the way! I would encourage you all to find the closest one and visit the grounds if you can't go inside. You will be amazed at the peace and comfort that you can feel without ever entering the temple itself.
