Farewell, Salt Lake Temple!

The official closing of the Salt Lake Temple for the next 4 years is bittersweet for me. I know that many needed improvements will be made in the coming years, but I will miss going there terribly.Because Salt Lake was my mission temple, I have many memories there. Some of the most vivid were made in the World Room, as strange as that may sound. I did a session in Salt Lake on my birthday earlier this month, and we spent more time than usual in the World Room. I have been reflecting on one past experience in that room since last visiting it.

On that occasion, my zone was given the opportunity to do temple cleaning service. We were all taken to the World Room where we were each given tools and asked to remove and replace the springs in the seats of the room. After a brief demonstration of the technique, we were all set loose.

Everyone got to work, and I found that removing the old spring was somewhat challenging, but doable. Putting on the new spring, however, was quite difficult. It took me several minutes to wrangle it on. It soon became clear that I was not cut out for this job. Sometimes, the springs would eventually cooperate, but other times, it was next to impossible for me to do anything. My companion had similar difficulty, and we regularly had to get one of the elders to help with a stubborn spring. They were making pretty quick progress, but as the only sisters in the zone, we barely crawled along. It was hot, sweaty work, and I felt like I had accomplished very little for all my effort. I have never felt as completely frustrated and useless in the temple as I did that day. 

Now I can better appreciate the lessons of that day. In this world, it isn't unusual for me to feel similarly useless and frustrated. There are many challenges in my life where it seems that the tools and instructions I've been given aren't helping me much because I'm simply too weak to properly utilize them. Even when I progress, it sometimes feels painfully slow. I often need the help of others to move forward, but that's the way it's supposed to be. We are meant to help each other, and the amount of progress we make matters less than the effort we put forth. Fortunately, we have been blessed with a Savior to enable us to more than we can of ourselves and to cover the things we simply aren't capable of.

After completing our period of service that day on the mission, we were granted the opportunity to tour areas of the temple that are not usually seen. Its been long enough now that all the experiences I enjoyed after temple service have blurred together now, but I believe that time we were taken to the fourth floor of the temple to see the rooms where the apostles meet weekly. They also have original furniture carved by Brigham Young on that floor. I think it was also the time they took us up to the top room in the central spire, which is essentially empty, and showed us the counterweight for Angel Moroni, which was interesting. Along the way, they showed us how the windows pivot open along their long diameter with no screen or anything. It makes you wonder how often they were opened in the days before air-conditioning. There were another few interesting experiences in conjunction that made the pains of the work fade into insignificance.

Our lives on Earth are often very similar. Though we can't see it in the midst of trials, the hard times are merely a blip in eternity