Beyond the Veil

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we believe - indeed we testify to all the world that the promises of eternal life are real.  The Savior rose from the grave and in so doing paved the way for all of us to be resurrected and live eternally.  We affirm that His plan assures that we can live together as families.  Our longings for those who have passed on are justified.  We will see them again.  The temple stands as a symbol of those eternal bonds. Everything that takes place there prepares us for eternal life with those we love in the presence of God our Father and His Son Jesus Christ who made it all possible.

Looking Up

We had Lynn's daughter Heidi and her family with us this last week and took them downtown Detroit.  It is always interesting to visit the large cities.  Detroit, like most, has a history of ethnic groups who settled in various sections of the city.  Each had it's church and the community grew up around the church.  The church by design was an unspoken symbol with its spire reaching skyward.  To look upward was to see that spire pointing you toward God.

But time passed and as industries grew and new buildings grew taller and taller.  Here is a typical inner city church dwarfed by its neighbors. You can see these in any of our large cities.

This poem reminds us that today there is a longing for things spiritual.  We are tired of the race of life with its empty promises.  We long to remember who we really are and the purpose of our earthly existence.  For us who are LDS, we have found a place to be spiritually fed; a place where we partake of the living waters.  We find great peace in the temples of the Lord.

Temple Trip

Before we had our own temple here in Detroit, we first went to Washington D.C. (12 hours), then Chicago (5 hours), and lastly Toronto (5 hours).  It's nice to have our own temple now but often I think about those Relief Society temple trips that we used to have to Toronto.  We would drive over on Friday and spend the evening together at a motel and talk into the wee hours of the night.  Then Saturday we'd head to the temple together.  It was such a nice time to talk girl talk and catch up on what was going on with our families. Always we were concerned about our families.

The Sealing Room

For the LDS people the word "sealing" has special meaning.  A sealing is an ordinance that binds a couple or a family together for all of eternity.  The sealing rooms always have mirrors on each wall so that when you stand looking into the mirror you see the reflections that extend forever - reminding you of eternity.