Reflecting on the Brigham City Temple Open House Visit

Today we had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Brigham City Utah LDS Temple Open House.

We were not disappointed.  First of all, the Temple is stunningly beautiful.  It is a symbol of our faith in life after death and the atoning sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  It was good to be there with some of our family (Iris, Alison, Annika, Avery, Ada, and me).  We had tickets for six and these are the ones who ended up being able to go at this particular time.  The temple openhouse will run for about a month and has been very successful.  They told us that they are accommodating about 1200 people every hour.  Thousands of people have flocked to Brigham City to see this beautiful new temple.  It is smaller than most of the other temples in Utah and I'm sure will be utilized to capacity, at least I hope so.  In fact, one of my greatest wishes  would be that all of the temples were used to capacity.  This would be a very great blessing to so many people.  It is one thing to marvel at the structure of these beautiful houses of the Lord and go about making pictures, but it is quite another to take full advantage of the blessings offered to those who make temple attendance a priority.  I think of the sacrifices that our ancestors and even those who live in areas of the world where the  temples are not so readily available.  Some have literally given their lives to go to the temple and many have given all of their earthly possessions for the opportunity to make those sacred covenants with the Lord.  In our work at the Logan Temple we see people anxiously engaged in the good and essential cause of temple work for our deceased loved ones, who in reality have merely gone before and now await the day when we will come to their aid and contribute to their salvation and exaltation as they did to ours in ways that be unknown to us,  but are nonetheless very real.  I love the gospel and the saving and sealing ordinances of the temple that bind us together in the eternities.  I have been impressed by the hundreds of young couples who come to the temple so often in spite of their busy schedules at work ant at school.  They come frequently and I can just see the their love for the Lord and for others.  They also look so at peace with themselves and their relationship with their spouses and others around them.

That is a part of the  great blessing promised those who faithfully attend the temple.  Sometimes we rationalize and say we are too busy.  I hope we can look the Lord or those dear ones who  have gone before in the eye and explain to them why we were so busy or  so uncommitted to the gospel plan of salvation for all of God's children, both the living and the dead.

I guess I got a little to "preachy".  Well, I was preaching to myself along with anyone else who really cares.  I'm not going to apologize though, because the spirit whispers that to me and tells me it is true.

I was grateful to be able to attend the Brigham City Temple Open House, and yes, I did take a few pictures afterwards.  I hope they will inspire me to be a little more grateful and a little more faithful each and every day.

The new Brigham City Utah Temple

Annika, Avery, and Ada 

We were so glad they could go with us. We would have loved having all the rest of our grandchildren there as well.  We are so blessed to have all twenty-five of them in our lives and love each and every one so very much.

Grandma Iris with some of her posterity.  We are blessed beyond measure.

The House of the Lord

Holiness to the Lord