Perspective

Each of these photos is taken from a different perspective.  Depending on what your focus is...determines what you actually see clearly.

For me, going to the temple has given me the ability to see things as they truly are and what is most important.  Those things of value are:  My covenants, my eternal family, and the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement. Going to the temple often, is like looking through glasses that are cleaned regularly, keeping my vision and purpose clear.  In contrast, when I don't attend the temple regularly, the film and grime of the outside world cloud my vision, altering my perspective.  

"The eternal perspective we receive in the temple gives us strength to endure the trials of life

An eternal perspective helps us maintain complete fidelity to the covenants we make. President Packer emphasized that “ordinances and covenants become our credentials for admission into [God’s] presence. To worthily receive them is the quest of a lifetime; to keep them thereafter is the challenge of mortality.” ²⁶

Ordinances of the temple relate not only to our eternal glory but also to that of our departed ancestors. “For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, … they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect.” ²⁷ Service in their behalf provides an opportunity for our continuing temple worship, selflessly rendered as a vicarious work patterned after that of the Lord as He wrought the Atonement to bless all who would ever live.

One day we will surely meet our Maker and stand before Him at the bar of judgment. Scripture teaches us that “the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name.” ²⁸ The Lord Himself will determine whether we have been true to the covenants we made with Him in the temple and thus merit the glorious blessings He has promised those who keep their covenants.

This perspective gives us strength to endure the trials of life. President Packer stated, “The ultimate purpose of all we teach is to unite parents and children in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they are happy at home, sealed in an eternal marriage, linked to their generations, and assured of exaltation in the presence of our Heavenly Father.” ²⁹

Each temple stands as a symbol of our membership in the Church, as a sign of our faith in life after death, and as a stepping-stone to eternal glory for us and our family. I pray that each member of the Church will prepare for the marvelous blessings of the temple."

Elder Russell M. Nelson, Prepare for the Blessings of the Temple, Ensign, October 2010

Be prepared and keep your eternal perspective fellow Temple Chasers!  The day is fast approaching when the completed temple will be in your very midst.  And then your ability to attend more often will be realized.  What a blessing.  A crystal clear blessing.