The Temple - spending time in His House

My  only sister and her husband  have never lived terribly close to us.  They have lived in Florida, Arizona, spent a summer in South America, and for the past few years they have lived in Virginia.  When my sister was born I was eight years old.  I enjoyed her as a baby, I had fun dressing her up and reading to her as she got a little older.  When I was married  she was twelve years old.  We saw each other only once or twice a year and then less often than that after she was married.  I loved her dearly; she was my only sister, but I didn’t' really get to know her well  as an adult until a couple of years ago.  March of 2010 my mother was going out to visit her in Virginia.  One day, while talking on the phone, she suddenly said, "Why don't you come too?"  She was not serious; she knew it and I knew it.  But when I got off the phone I couldn't stop thinking about it.  I was not pregnant and had no nursing baby.  In fact, my youngest at the time was three years old.  It really wasn't a bad time for me to take a trip like that.  We made the arrangements and I flew out there to meet my Mom and sister and brother in law.  We had a marvelous three days, spent mostly touring  the Washington D.C. area.  We saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Library of Congress, the Washington Monument, Ford's theatre, the house where Lincoln died, the Viet Nam Memorial, the Capital, the Jefferson Memorial, the Declaration of Independence….and the beautiful blossoming cherry trees.  I also got to spend time in my sister's home.  I got to meet her dog Bella.  I got to walk the neighborhood where she walks the dog every day.  I got to shop in her little grocery store on the first floor of her apartment building.  I got to walk in her little neighborhood shopping district and see where she and her husband like to get a treat now and then.  In short, by visiting my sister's home and neighborhood, I came to know my sister so much better.  In her taste in furniture and décor, in her choice of music, in the pictures she had on the walls, I could see what was important to my sister.  I could feel of her spirit and the sweet person she is, just by being in her home.

 So what does this have to do with the temple?  I desire with all my heart to know my Savior better.  One of the ways I can do that is to visit His house.  His house is the temple.  I can read my scriptures and go to church.  All those things are good.  But I feel every time I go to the temple, a closeness to my Savior that I don't feel anywhere else.  I really know Him better as I spend time in His house, just like I came to know my sister better by spending time in her house.  I can feel His spirit there so strongly.  As I listen to the words of the ordinances I can easily see what things are of greatest importance to Him.  So, in order to get closer to my Savior…I can attend the temple as often as I can.