Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Tour Your Own Home

I really enjoyed Elder Gary E. Stevenson's talk this past General Conference. He spoke on the importance of temples, and how we need to strive to make our homes compare in sacredness. He stated the following:
Recently, in a stake conference, all present were invited by the visiting authority, Elder Glen Jenson, an Area Seventy, to take a virtual tour of their homes using their spiritual eyes. I would like to invite each of you to do this also. Wherever your home may be and whatever its configuration, the application of eternal gospel principles within its walls is universal. Let’s begin. Imagine that you are opening your front door and walking inside your home. What do you see, and how do you feel? Is it a place of love, peace, and refuge from the world, as is the temple? Is it clean and orderly? As you walk through the rooms of your home, do you see uplifting images which include appropriate pictures of the temple and the Savior? Is your bedroom or sleeping area a place for personal prayer? Is your gathering area or kitchen a place where food is prepared and enjoyed together, allowing uplifting conversation and family time? Are scriptures found in a room where the family can study, pray, and learn together? Can you find your personal gospel study space? Does the music you hear or the entertainment you see, online or otherwise, offend the Spirit? Is the conversation uplifting and without contention? That concludes our tour. Perhaps you, as I, found a few spots that need some “home improvement”—hopefully not an “extreme home makeover.”
How does your home do with this "spiritual tour"? There are a few things my wife and I need to tweak... but all in all, we're trying hard and doing pretty well!
I really need to make the temple a bigger part of my life-- of my routine. By so doing, I will be blessed with a greater measure of the Spirit of the Lord, and me and my family will also be blessed with protection-- temporal and spiritual.

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