Last night for family home evening we read our "Family From Yosemite" stories. Rick even got on the phone from Okinawa to join us. Our Tom, Elder Blair, will be part of it all when we send him a special New Year's package with all the stories. If you don't know what "The Family From Yosemite" is all about, read my post about our previous Christmas,
January 6, 2009. The following is my contribution this year.
“MY TEMPLE, MY TEMPLE, IT’S MY TEMPLE!!!”
By Martha Reynders Blair
December 25, 2009
We were on our way to see the Christmas lighting of the Los Angeles Temple. It wasn’t something we had done before as a family, but with our four children getting older we thought it was something we could definitely enjoy together.
We were rendezvousing with the McEwan family. Many of the McEwan children were the same age as our own. Brother McEwan’s father was the temple president. President McEwan and his wife maintained a residence nearby which would be helpful if anyone needed a potty stop, a rest, ect. All of which were concerns in transporting children to such an event.
Along with the McEwan’s we met with, President and Sister McEwan, in their home. It was so nice and we felt very privileged being there. We toured their cozy home and yes, someone had to go to the bathroom. There was also a little, round jogging trampoline (exercising apparatus of the day) in their living room. Yes, the kids all took a turn jumping on it.
We enjoyed a musical program that evening on the temple grounds listening to the Southern California Mormon Choir and an exceptional speech by the Mayor of Los Angeles, Tom Bradley, who officially flipped the switch to turn on the lights for the holiday season.
Our intent too, was to have a bit of a tailgate party. Keeping children happy with yummy hot chocolate and treats. We did and it kept everyone going for the evening. The cocoa was nice and warm which tasted good and felt so good on what was a very cold night. We enjoyed ourselves as we meandered through the temple grounds looking at the array of lights and listening to the recorded Christmas music that came and went as we traveled around looking at the displays.
It was really a very enjoyable evening, but none of it surpasses the moment as we drove along side the temple and got our first view of the edifice that night. Let me digress just a moment to a family home evening not too long before this event. It was a family home evening prompted by the direction of President Spencer W. Kimball. He had asked families to hang a picture of a temple in their home. We decided to let each child select a favorite temple and we would display it in their room. Ricky, the oldest, picked the traditional Salt Lake Temple. Billy selected the St. George Temple. It was my favorite as a child too. Its very white walls made me think of purity. For this reason, I always thought it looked particularly holy. Cassie the youngest was quick to say she liked the Los Angeles Temple which was where Hugh and I were married. Becky then selected the only other temple that was in California at the time, the Oakland Temple. Each picture was framed and placed in a strategic place in their rooms. The idea was that seeing the temple everyday would remind them of the importance of the temple and how they should prepare to enter the House of the Lord.
We were laughing and talking as we turned off the freeway and headed down Santa Monica Blvd. It was already evening with lights beaming brightly against the very dark sky, but soon the temple came into view. It’s a view Hugh and I see all the time in our monthly sojourn to participate in temple worship, but it was new to our children and our fun togetherness was interrupted by Cassie’s excited screams. She pointed and pressed her face to the window next to her, “MY TEMPLE, MY TEMPLE, IT’S MY TEMPLE!!!” We all turned and looked out the window. There we saw the Los Angeles Temple in all its luminous glory glowing before us.
It truly is a light upon a hill, majestic, and magnificent, bearing witness to all the world and calling, “Come, Come Unto Christ". I was moved that night as I viewed the temple and heard Cassie cry, “MY TEMPLE, MY TEMPLE, IT’S MY TEMPLE!!!” Now she’s a young mother with a temple recommend, endowed with power from on high. She hopes her little boys will prepare seeing the joy and hope of the temple, not only from the picture that graces the walls of their home, but by the example she sets in temple attendance. It truly is her temple, THE HOUSE OF THE LORD, where He blesses her life and her family eternally.
