I am not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,
But today I had the opportunity to visit the newly renovated temple in Atlanta.
It is only open to the public for these two weeks before a dedicatory prayer is said.
There was much to see(no pictures allowed inside the temple) and there is much to say.
But, for now at least, I want to write about my favorite part while it is still in that brilliant part of memory.
(You know the part before time fades it and you lose all the tiny details?)

I never expected to be moved to tears,
But there’s something about God that is so big and so bright and so brilliant
That, even when you are outside your own religion and beliefs and understandings,
You feel “it” –
That indescribable feeling,
A warmth in the center of your being
That connects with your Creator
And you know, you know that God is Love.
And all the other stuff is icing.

Standing in the Celestial Room, the holy of holies in the Temple, I marveled at the elegance and beauty around me.
The gorgeous multi-tiered chandelier glistening and shooting light around the room.
The over-sized mirrors on either side of the room, facing each other, showing a pathway to infinity.
The details in the carpet echoing the details etched in the glass doors echoing the details in the stained glass.
(Even found on the door plates.)
The white of purity.
The gold of heaven.
The green of new life, renewal.
The symbolism not lost on me.

We were asked to be silent.
And yet a little child no more than 2 babbled on.
Shushed by her mother, her grandmother
She could not be persuaded to be quiet.
She, in the holy of holies, would not be silent.
She, in the holy of holies, spoke unabashedly, giggled even.
And I thought “What better sound to hear than the sound of a child?”
And I got misty-eyed.

Oh, how I pray that in the presence of God, there will be the sound of children.
What would forever be without that sound?