One of my favorite things to do with my family on Sunday night is to go down to the temple grounds and visitor’s center.
My son loves to look at the reflecting pools, my daughter loves to sit in her stroller and enjoy the sites and sounds, and my wife and I enjoy the peace and solitude of the temple gardens.
Sunday night at the gardens attracts a diverse group of visitors: missionaries (of course), investigators, families and young adults. Amazingly, among so many people, the gardens retain an atmosphere of peace and tranquility unmatched by almost any other location in the Phoenix area.
As I walk around the gardens with my family, I remember when my parents took me to Temple Square in Salt Lake City, when I was my son’s age–four. I recall the fascination with the stunning architecture of the Salt Lake Temple, the beauty of the gardens and my first glimpse of the Christus statue.
When my family goes to the temple grounds, my son loves to go inside the visitor’s center and see the Christus. As we drive to the temple, he asks, “Are we going to see Jesus?” When I am walking through the temple gardens, I do feel close to my Savior, as I walk outside of His house.
I am hopeful that these trips to the temple will instill in my son and daughter the same curiousity about the temple that I posessed throughout my youth, prior to serving a mission. My fascination with the temple lead me to read Talmadge’s book, “The House of the Lord”, and spurred me to study the creation stories contained in the Pearl of Great Price, and to study the Levitical ordinances described in the Old Testament.
Kim Siever posted on pointing our doors to the temple earlier this month in his blog, Our Thoughts (great post, by the way). I want my door to be pointed toward the temple so my children can grow up and truly mean the words to the song, “I love to see the temple, I’m going there someday.“
So, the next time my son asks me, “Are we going to see Jesus?” I can say, without hesistation, “Yes, we are going to see Him and His house today.”
Brian, these are nice thoughts. I always try to go to new temples when I travel, which I do quite a bit. I have not yet seen the Phoenix temple, however.
I think you’re exactly right that we should keep our children focused on the temple starting from when they are young. “Going to see Jesus” is a good way to describe it.
When I attended the Los Angeles Temple, I would often approach using Overland Avenue. It was a slower than going up Westwood Blvd., but it provided a half mile from Olympic Blvd. to Santa Monica Blvd. looking straight at the temple in front of us.
One evening, my four-year-old son came with me to the family history library behind that temple, and he played with his puzzles at a table while I researched. As we left, he asked questions about the work for the dead that seemed a bit profound at the time. I was quite thankful for a setting that would open him to such thoughts.
Geoff, if you ever make it down to the Phoenix area, drop me a line and my wife and I will invite you over for dinner. Btw, the Mesa temple has excellent prime rib on Friday nights. Now if that isn’t reason enough to attend the temple on Friday night, I don’t know what is!!
John, the LA temple was one of my favorite temples to visit. I went with a friend and stayed in patron housing. The temple is very beautiful inside.
Hey Brian, I don’t get to Phoenix very often, but you never know…I will definitely give you a call if I make it there.
By the way, there is another Bloggernacle inhabitant in the Phoenix area. David H. He seems like a pretty good guy. I am sure there are many others there as well. Not as many of us in the Miami area, however.
Geoff, I remember twenty years back when a new missionary from Miami arrived in Bahia Blanca, Argentina. At that time Bahia Blanca was a city of a couple hundred thousand people with a stake of the Church and three wards in the city. The missionary from Miami was amazed to be in a place with so many Latter-day Saints.
We visited the Mesa temple some years ago, happening to go through town on a Monday night, and we were impressed with all the folks just hanging out on the temple grounds: having picnics, taking wedding photos, etc. There seemed to be a sense of ownership and open-ness that one doesn’t find in places like, for example, Sao Paulo where the temple is in a gated compound behind a large fence.
We ended up approaching Phoenix from a different direction than had been planned, and so we would be going through Mesa. “What a shame I didn’t look up the directions on the church website,” I said. And since we’ve had trouble finding some temples even with directions, we figured it was a lost cause. Until I noticed that this temple was on my Rand McNally map. Apparently it was a big building project during the depression and it is a landmark that local people have strong feelings about.