In the manual, it said that a reward of temple work will be that we will get to be in "possession" of our families. What a blessing, but it reiterated to me President Uchtdorf's talk on the importance of having good familial relationships. If you aren't good friends with your family in this life, you will not want to possess them in the life to come.
The teacher broke down temple work into three different parts: Work (i.e. ordinances performed and family history work completed), the goals of the temple (exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom), and other Rewards (families together, be like God, etc). The teacher stressed that without the work, we could not get the rewards. She said it so beautifully with this analogy about her son (paraphrased in my own words).
"My son, who's 20 months old, can walk into the room and everyone's face will light up. He is loved and taken care of simply because he exists. However, as we grow, we are held more accountable for ourselves and our actions. We are not cared for, simply because we exist. We must earn our living. Heavenly Father loves each of us unconditionally, but since we are not infants and ARE accountable for our actions, if we do not do the work, he cannot give us the rewards nor will we reach our goals."
I LOVED this explanation. It applies to so many aspects of the gospel. Why we must do temple work, why we can't all be saved by "grace alone". We must do the work to get the rewards.
Finally, Eli and I went to the NASA research center, near our house. We saw a video on stars and in that video they talked about star "nurseries" where new stars are being made and dispersing across the universe. They attributed it to "big bang theories." However, Sunday's lesson impressed on me an overwhelming feeling of awe as I realized that we are witness to God's creations. Not just what he has created, but what he is creat-ing. NOW!! Not only all around us, but as we look through our telescopes and satellite images, we are a perpetual audience to His works and His glory.
(Star Nursery near Orion)
2 comments:
I told Tim about the story of Eli and Easter Sunday...and I couldn't get through it without crying. I really hope that I am as good with Emmy about sharing the gospel with her as you are with Eli! Thank you so much for always sharing your testimony on your blog Carrie :). It's such a booster to my days!
Very cool analogies!
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