Today, after being beat up in the business world for the umpteenth time, I ran off to the temple to find solace and peace. I want to be in the conduit to God, the place where God meets us earthlings.
“….but as for me, though all the world should sink into oblivion, I will go up to worship the Lord. These were my feelings a year ago, and they are the same to-day. I dedicate myself, my family, and my substance anew unto the Lord, they are not mine, I am not my own creator, nor the producer of anything I possess; I did not originate one atom of it. Let the world and its cares go! The Lord, Almighty, who made it, is able to take care of it, and He may do with it what He pleases; but He has commanded me to worship Him, which is one of the greatest privileges that could be conferred upon man.
You think that your business needs your continual and undivided attention, that you must attend to this, or to that, before you can dedicate yourselves and families to the Lord. There may perhaps be some few here this morning who feel they ought to be plowing, fencing, building, or attending to some minor affair, and cannot possibly spend time to remain at the Conference.
If you will hearken to the counsel of your humble servant, you will say to the fields, the flocks, and the herds, to the gold and the silver, to the goods and chattels, to the tenements and the possessions, and to all the world—Stand aside, get away from my thoughts, for I am going up to worship the Lord. Let it all go by the board, brethren, and who cares? I do not. Your oxen and horses will not live for ever, they will die occasionally; and sometimes we are deprived by death of our children, and other members of our families. I say, let the dead bury the dead, let the corn and the wheat, and all other things, take care of themselves, but let us dedicate ourselves, our families, our substance, our time, our talents, and everything we have upon the face of this world, with all that will hereafter be entrusted to us, to the Lord our God; let the whole be devoted to the building up of His kingdom upon the earth, and whether you are called here or there, it makes no matter; but this morning let every heart be humble, watchful, and prayerful, dedicating themselves unto the Lord.” (discourse delivered by President Brigham Young at the opening of the new Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, April 6, 1852 and quoted in Hugh Nibley on Brigham Young)
So I took that advice of Brigham Young and went to do some initiatories. One stands out in my mind–a woman named Celestia. I felt that those whose work I was doing, were grateful and eager to help me on the other side of this veil. That I had friends that I did not know who would help me because of my work for them. I just felt a new camaraderie with these women.
