I spoke in my sacrament meeting today. The topic I was given to speak on was the temple. I read the lyrics to hymn #288 How Beautiful thy Temples, Lord and quoted some passages from Isaiah. Then I pointed out that in 2 Ne 5, Nephi mentions that he built a temple and later in that chapter that his people lived after the manner of happiness.
The temple is a very special place to me. It is a place where we can feel the Spirit of the Lord very strongly, where we can grow and become better people. I love everything about the temple, and I love going there often.
For the last half of my talk, I spoke on the law of consecration. This is the highest law that we covenant to follow in the temple. It means dedicating all of your possessions, talents, and blessings to the building of the kingdom of God. So, I discussed some of the more obvious things that we think about consecrating, such as money and time. Then I talked about the blessings that we have in our lives that we may not consider blessings.
One example I gave of a blessing in disguise was Karen's cancer. It was such a blessing because it taught us to love each other more dearly and cherish the time that we had together much more than if we had expected to share a whole lifetime together. So, I talked about how I could consecrate a blessing like that to the building of the Kingdom.
There are so many other things in my life that I consider blessings, that some people may not view as such, that I feel like I need to consecrate to the Lord. There's one in particular that only those who know me best would know about, but I truly view it as a blessing and I thank my God that He has given it to me. I also feel a very strong obligation (and desire) to consecrate that blessing to the building of the Kingdom of God here on the Earth. But I have been given so many blessings in life and I give them all back to my God to do His work.
The temple is a very special place to me. It is a place where we can feel the Spirit of the Lord very strongly, where we can grow and become better people. I love everything about the temple, and I love going there often.
For the last half of my talk, I spoke on the law of consecration. This is the highest law that we covenant to follow in the temple. It means dedicating all of your possessions, talents, and blessings to the building of the kingdom of God. So, I discussed some of the more obvious things that we think about consecrating, such as money and time. Then I talked about the blessings that we have in our lives that we may not consider blessings.
One example I gave of a blessing in disguise was Karen's cancer. It was such a blessing because it taught us to love each other more dearly and cherish the time that we had together much more than if we had expected to share a whole lifetime together. So, I talked about how I could consecrate a blessing like that to the building of the Kingdom.
There are so many other things in my life that I consider blessings, that some people may not view as such, that I feel like I need to consecrate to the Lord. There's one in particular that only those who know me best would know about, but I truly view it as a blessing and I thank my God that He has given it to me. I also feel a very strong obligation (and desire) to consecrate that blessing to the building of the Kingdom of God here on the Earth. But I have been given so many blessings in life and I give them all back to my God to do His work.
The law of Consecration is a great source of strength. Because I have been given much I too must give. When one obeys this law the blessings received are far greater than can be imagined. As a convert I must share that I lost someone very special in my life to temporal death. As a result of my partner's death began a journey that led me to my Father's true church. Without this death I may have had to choose between someone very special to me and the Priesthood. I cannot say for certain I would have separated from a most important person to be wothty to hold the Priesthood. With the Priesthood, receiving my own Temple Ordinances and regular Temple attendance I have a knowledge and appreciation for our Heavenly Father's plan. While sorrowful for the loss of a beautiful individul, I can appreciate the joy in serving the Lord. I bear my testimony these things are true, the Gospel has been restored to the earth and we have a living Prophet to guide us in these latter days. I say these things in the mame of Jesus Christ,Amen.
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