2.353 Holy Temples Make it Possible

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, a bold reminder that our lives are meant to carry his flavor, his truth, and his love to the world. Join me each day to explore one verse of scripture and one thought, striving to stay full of savor and truly live as savory salt. Hello my friends, it's great to have you with me.

Today, let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. Everything changes when viewed eternally. We're reading this week from "The Family, A Proclamation to the World", as well as Ether chapters 12 through 15 and Moroni chapter 1.

We're going to come back to "The Family Proclamation to the World". Welcome to "The Family Proclamation" one more time here before finishing out the week inside of the Book of Ether. Cut straight to it everyone.

This recording is the last recording I will do before my daughter comes home from her mission. She has served 18 months in Argentina and the timing with "The Family Proclamation" has been quite a wonderful opportunity for us as family members. Each of us during scripture study this week have taken our favorite.

It's the third paragraph in "The Family Proclamation". It says this, In the pre-mortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave.

Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally. My friends, the concept of an eternal family is quite unique to Latter-day Saints. I believe it's this concept that changes the way that our family speaks to each other, treats each other, forgives each other, and generally spends time together.

We're not trying to, I want to try and put this properly here. We're not trying to just raise children so that they turn 18 and become old enough to get out of the house. It's not some timeline that we hope at some point the child becomes totally independent and disappears from our lives.

And I don't mean to say that that's everybody else's perspective. It's just when you look at mainstream media or TV or movies, that's kind of the way they portray parents, is that children are this bane of their existence. And as soon as they're old enough, let's get them out on the streets and then we never have to deal with it again.

The sentences inside this paragraph speak to the core of my heart and soul. I resonate very deeply with the idea that the divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. If I want to make sure my relationships continue even after my life, it's going to change the way I talk and treat my children and my wife.

I love that the opportunity for ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally. My family has been separated for this short period of time. Sometimes it's felt like a long period of time. 18 months, right?

But we've been separated. And we have an opportunity to unite. And that uniting, I can only imagine the uniting we're going to feel as we embrace her from her mission, has got to feel a lot like that when I get to hug my parents again, or my grandparents again.

Thank you for watching. Thank you for watching. Lift up your hearts and rejoice, because my daughter's coming home. Cleave to the covenants you have made and together we will be savory salt.