Temple Foundations

Yesterday I received an email from my mom.  She had shared some thoughts about temple foundations with her Primary class, and wanted to share them with us, her children and grandchildren.  I suggested she come and have FHE with us tonight, and share them with us directly.  She came, we sang, she shared her message, and we had treats.  It was wonderful to have her in our home, and I loved the thoughts she shared.  Here they are, from the email she sent, complete with pictures.  I love the temple, and I love my mom.

Sunday, August 7, 2016

I learned from Mikayla last night that Taylor Orton’s wife who was eight months pregnant was killed in an automobile accident Friday night by a drunk driver. I grieve for Taylor and his young child, for the Orton family, and Taylor’s in-laws who have lost a beloved daughter. To consider how so many were looking with sweet anticipation to the birth of a beloved new child now experience such grief and heartache wounds all of us who know and love the Ortons. I grieve as well for the person who caused the accident. I imagine that person feel sorrow, remorse, and fear about the future. As Mikayla noted, life is so precious and so fragile.

My lesson today in Primary is based on the account of Nephi and Lehi, sons of Helaman as found in Helaman 5. As recorded in Helaman 5: 12, Helaman taught his sons the truth that is most essential for us in our mortal journey:

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

Paul taught, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). As part of my lesson today, I’m going to talk about what I’ve learned from the stories of the foundations of the Salt Lake, Provo City Center, and Provo temples.

In constructing the Salt Lake Temple, two tiers of blocks had to be removed and replaced because the workers were using chips of granite between the blocks in order to minimize the use of expensive mortar. Later, when workers discovered large cracks in the foundation walls, they started all over again, removing all the original stones down to the bottom layer and replacing them with higher quality stones. The new stones could be cut to fit without mortar.

Early in our marriage, your father and I had cracked and poorly constructed foundations. Although I had a better foundation in my childhood than your father did, I took shortcuts on building the foundation of my testimony and eventually had to literally start over and rebuild.

The architects and builders of the City Center temple carefully analyzed the potential dangers that the temple might experience in the future. With the water table only 15’ below the land surface, they dug 60 feet below the surface, laid a foundation that is five feet thick and designed the structure so that if there is ever a bit of water that enters the structure, a sensor will note the water and turn on a pump and send an alarm. They don’t anticipate that happening. I believe that Taylor Orton and his family have a sure foundation like unto the City Center temple. The strength of their testimonies and their strong commitment to the gospel as have I witnessed for the past 25 years will carry them through this trial.

I learned recently that the foundation of the Provo Temple has developed cracks and is unstable. The Church is in the process of determining the future of the temple. In the meantime, the foundation is being strengthened a section at a time. The lengthy closure two years ago was the start of that process.

In my recent reading of the scriptures, I have come across the Savior’s counsel to “Sanctify yourselves.” I’ve thought about that a lot as I consider that my time on the earth is waning. It is the Savior’s atonement that cleanses us from sin, but this counsel from the Savior tells me that I need to be making an earnest and ongoing effort to examine myself, to repent of current and past sins and offenses, to correct behaviors and habits that are offensive to God, to consider how I spend my time. Much like the Provo temple, I’m sure we each have some cracks in our foundation that need repair and/or reconstructions. I encourage you to consider what you need to do to strengthen your own foundation as well as the foundation of your individual children and your family. Don’t cut any corners. You are all too precious to me to lose any of you either now or in eternity.

Mom