A Message of Hope for Members of the Church

For those of you who might think that, in the great struggle of good v evil, good is losing…

For those of you who feel like the world is closing around us and righteousness is stumbling and falling…

For those of you who fear that, as a people, we are not doing our part to build the Kingdom of God here on the earth…

I offer my experiences of last night, our ward temple night. To begin with, as we arrived, it was hard to find parking. Then there was a line at the recommend desk. The men’s changing room seemed unusually crowded. I was surprised to find a long line at the name issue desk. The chapel where we wait to begin our session was packed. I mean, packed to the back row. I could have counted the empty spaces on two hands.

When my wife arrived in the chapel after changing, she said that in the women’s changing room, they had run out of lockers. The line at name issue stretched all the way to the outside of the changing room.

The session itself was obviously packed completely full. No extra chairs. And, of course, the Celestial Room was the most crowded I have ever seen. There were no spare seats.

And all this was on a weekday night.

Now I know there are some that won’t see this as a big deal. There were probably several wards and stakes having special temple nights. Very possibly. I’m sure there are other nights when it’s not that crowded. Still others might have complained at the lines and the wait. And I’m sure there are some that wish to fight the church and will read this with frustration.

But for me, it was exciting to see the work being done. It was exciting to see so many people at once in the temple. I’ve seen full sessions before, but never a situation so much as this one.

I’m reminded of the quote from Joseph Smith, “No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done” (History of the Church, 4:540).


MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com