I spent some time pondering this quote from a recent RS lesson that taught/reinforced some specific attributes of homes and temples that make them sacred.
Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness.I belong in my home and nobody questions that. My parents welcome me when I walk in the door with a smile and open arms, offering food and laughter and sustenance. It doesn't matter what I look like when I am home; no one is judging my appearance. I can feel completely comfortable in my own skin, and those at home love me for all of the right reasons.
Similarly, I belong in the temple. My Heavenly parents welcome me with an outpouring of the the Holy Ghost as I walk inside, offering spiritual nourishment, joy, and strength. It doesn't matter who is most fashionable in the temple; no one is judging my appearance there either. We dress in pure white to represent the fact that we are all equal in God's eyes.
A few weeks ago, I was doing baptisms for the dead at the temple, and had the opportunity to speak with the temple president. I expressed my plans to be endowed soon and my heart was burning with a desire to know what else I could do to prepare for my first endowment session. Rather than providing me with some unique study plan, he simply commended my preparation and told me that I belong in the temple. As long as I am true to myself and to God, I can walk in those golden doors, feel a sense of peace, and give all of my worries away. I am so excited to enter the temple for my washing and anointing, and to receive my endowment. I have been striving for years to feel worthy and prepared. The day is coming soon. I'm not sure just when it will be, but I can't wait!
My goal is renewed to have this same temple-like spirit in my own home as I navigate through college, and eventually learn how to be a wife and mother. I can make my apartment a sacred place. I can invite the Holy Ghost into my home. I want my home to be a refuge for everyone who walks inside, always. I feel the same happy feelings inside the temple as I do inside my home and vice versa. This is because those sacred environments are a little sneak peek to my heavenly home. And there, in the kingdom with my Father, is where I ultimately belong.
