The Temple in Autumn's Change

 I jumped at the chance to go the temple on Tuesday. Another mom watched my kids for the day and I drove to Kensington, Maryland by myself thinking about my personal goals and what God will help me to accomplish. The temple is an appropriate destination when those are the questions on my mind because I believe the temple is His house on the earth.

 The Washington DC temple appears especially solid and white against the colorful, changing palette of autumn. Mums in at least seven shades are in bloom in the gardens, and all of the colors of a mid-eastern autumn are bursting out in landscape of trees. The reflection of the entrance doors shows off autumn's display. The beauty of God's creation is a holy gift, evidence of His love for us, his signature in his handiwork.

Even the East doors and the black polished marble gave off a beautiful red glow of the maples opposite it. I'm sure it's not red year-round, just in autumn. And with all that changes outside the temple, I love what stays the same inside. The Gospel of Jesus Christ does not change and the temple teaches us that.

Of course, I couldn't take photos inside, but you'll have to believe me that these stained glass windows are the most beautiful blues and purples when viewed on the inside. Sometimes I wish I could just pause in the stairways and examine them closely. They are the most wonderful hues of heaven.

 I had about ten minutes after my temple service to amble through the temple grounds and snap photos from my favorite angles and pretend I knew about photography composition. And I did it all so that I could blog about the temple and that's the truth.

 I want my children and family and friends to know it's worth the two and half hour one-way drive in the middle of the week DC traffic. I feel close to God when I am there--I feel like he can understand me because I can finish my sentences in prayer and I'm not distracted by all the undone tasks around me, and I hear His voice with more clarity, too. The temple is a place of prayer.

 I hope everyone, whatever their faith and belief system, has a place where they can go to have the quiet that our temples offer us so that they can feel a free flow of inspiration and peace. As I came out of the temple this time I had a newly clarified plan for the near future mainly in the forms of confidence and assurance. Time in the temple offers that kind of peace.

And then I came home with the hope to make our family's home a little more like the house of God I had just visited, a place of peace and instruction and approval, a place where we can understand him better and feel understood in return. A place that we want to capture in photographs because of how we feel inside. A place where everything that is important remains unchanged when it seems like the world outside is changing too quickly to keep up with.