Spacious Building

We attended the wedding of our nephew in the temple this past week. As we were in the dressing room the temple worker in charge of the brides asked us if we would like to see the bride’s dressing room. We, of course, said yes and off we went. It was beautiful and I could not think of a more fitting room in which to get dressed for your wedding. She showed us all the clothing they had if the bride’s dress was not temple appropriate. I thought back on my own daughter who had a cap sleeve on her wedding dress and she was ok with wearing a longer sleeved tee under her dress. I ask the temple matron if this was done often and she said that it was just because the style of today was with cap sleeves. Her next commented surprised me. She stated that it was the mother of the bride who usually got upset when they were told that the daughter needed to wear the tee under the dress. I would think it would be the daughter but she assured me that it was usually the mother who did the complaining.

The influence of the mother is so valuable to set a tone of spirituality and obedience. I wonder at this valuable crossroad in these young brides life what attitudes they have learned and will remember as they pass down to their daughters this same example?

Our daughter and her four young children have been visiting us for a couple of weeks. I watch her has she mothers her children. It is very de javu as I hear here talk to her children while I listen from the other room. She has the same tone of voice that I do and while she is talking and disciplining her children I can hear myself from a time past and remember my days while my children were young. I see the power of influence not only in what we say but also what we do as mothers. Those attitudes and behaviors are passed on for generations.

We live in this world today that has so many conflicting influences telling us how we should be. What can we do to keep our homes safe from those worldly attitudes that say it’s ok to be like the world and to be what you want to be? I don’t have to lecture about the influence of the television, Internet, music and printed media. We all know the bad and the good that it has to offer us. We just need to learn how to separate the messages of how we should live and apply the ones that lead us closer to our eternal goals.

I can’t help but think of the vision of the iron rod and the great and spacious building that we are trying to avoid and the river flowing beside it as we try to avoid the pitfalls of the world. Everything is so separate in the dream. The building has its place; the river has its place; the iron rod is there in the middle and if we hold tight to it our journey leads to the tree of life. Somehow that picture is a little different today. We live in times when the iron rod may be in the same place but the filthy river has waves that are rolling over the trail as we hang on for dear life to the iron rod. The large and spacious building has traveled to surround the iron rod. It is no longer separate but we are holding to the rod as it travels through that great and spacious building. The worldly things are surrounding us on every side. In our day we don’t have to go into the great and spacious building; the building has come into our homes via television, computers and media. You don’t go to it anymore…. It has come to you.

The line, “live in the world but not be of the world,” bring on real meaning. We must guard our homes! As the spacious building is swarming all around us the iron rod must be griped tightly with both hands. Our behavior must not be divided nor can we look back at the things of the world we want to hang onto. We can’t be a modern “Lot’s wife” who longingly looked back at the world she was leaving behind and was turned into a pillar of salt. Her attempt to retain a lifestyle evidently caused her to forfeit her identify. Nowhere can we find her name, just a reference as “wife”. Let our names be known and written in history for the good we have done and the righteous influence we have been able to achieve.