Daily Archives: 10:28 pm

Laughter in the Temple

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?

 

two year old tears

in the dark
your cries startle me
my heart jumps
and I run to you.

“hoh me” you whisper
and I crawl into bed with you,
your tiny body perfectly cupped in mine.

you pull my arm around you
and you wiggle into my side
(and my heart)
and the warmth of you
the smell of you
the you-ness of you
floods my senses
and i close my eyes.

your pudgy hand grips my fingers
and you rub them like a talisman
and i pray that i can scare away the dreams that rattle you

“i love you”
i whisper gently
“eye yuh yoo”
slips from your lips
as you slip into dreams

and i hold you
and i close my eyes,
trying desperately to see your dreams.

eyes squeezed shut,
i see something
and realize it isn’t your dream
but mine
that dangles before me.

and i reach for it
and grasp it
and rub it like a talisman
and i pray that i can show you what it means to find your dream,
to live your dream…

you are my dream
and eye yuh yoo