A Beacon of Hope

This semester has been pretty challenging for me and I've only been in school for a month. I seem to have more things to do than I have time for and as the weeks went by I started slacking off in the most important area of my life; the gospel. It wouldn't have been super noticeable except that there was some contention between my roommate and I that wasn't there last semester. We had talked several times to no avail. We couldn't figure out what was wrong or what we could do to change the atmosphere in our apartment.
Then on Sunday January 26, 2014 we had a Relief Society lesson about putting our priorities in order and putting the Lord first in our lives. I felt like I was getting slapped in the face, this was definitely something I needed to hear. When I got home my roommate mentioned how heavily the lesson impacted her and I told her I felt the same way. In that moment we both realized that we were not doing our best to align our lives with God's will. We made a decision right then to work harder, get up earlier to read our scriptures and make a conscious effort to attend the temple at least once a week. It shouldn't be that hard because it takes 15 minutes to walk up the hill through campus to the temple.
There was such a difference in our relationship as we worked on getting to bed earlier and getting up just a bit earlier so we could read our scriptures first thing in the morning. The contention left and we began to get along the way we used to.
I had made the decision that Sunday to go to the temple on Friday at 11:30 after my last class. However I realized the next day that I had an appointment at 11:30 and then an internship interview at 12:30 and another appointment at 2:00. I was having a hard time figuring out where to put my temple trip when my friend recommended going Friday morning before my classes. So when Friday came around I got up and ready to head out the door at 8:15. I walked out the door to my apartment and quickly noticed how foggy it was that morning. As I was walking up the hill to the temple I noticed that I couldn't see very far ahead because of the fog. I was curious to know if I could see the temple through the fog so I looked up. What I saw nearly brought tears to my eyes. The sun was rising in the sky and hit the fog just right so that all that was visible above the fog was the statue of Moroni on top of the temple. I couldn't take my eyes off of the temple and soon I could see the steeple as well as Moroni. In that moment I got caught up in the symbolism of everything; the mist of darkness and the golden rod, or statue of Moroni, shining brightly towards heaven pointing me in the direction I need to take in life. The temple is a symbol of hope standing bright in the darkness of the world around us. All we have to do is put one foot in front of the other and stay on path that leads to the Lord.
As I have been sitting here writing this, the lyrics of a song have come to my mind that I feel fit nicely with the theme of this post, though I'm just going to add bits from the end. The song is, "Close Enough to Touch" by Kenneth Cope.

I came close enough to touch
Close enough to heal
Faith let me know I'd be whole
If I was close enough
Close enough to feel
His love for me so real
I will believe there are miracles for me
When I'm close enough to touch

Always believe
that he's close enough to touch 

When we are going to the temple regularly, whatever that means for you personally, we are coming close enough to the Savior to feel his touch in our lives. I truly believe that his presence can be felt stronger and more powerfully in the temple than almost anywhere else on Earth.

I took this picture that morning because it was too good of a moment to miss. It is now a constant reminder of the power of the temple and just how easy it should be for me to get myself there every week.

There is a certain majesty that emanates from the house of the Lord that you can't imitate anywhere else, no matter how hard you try.
I hope this picture can inspire the same hope and love that it inspired in me.

Remember that the Lord lives, and loves each and every one of you,
Kylie