A Couple of Unrelated Thoughts

Thought #1: In church on Sunday, we had a combined Relief Society/Elder’s Quorum lesson taught by the Temple/Family History committee. At the end, the bishop shared his testimony and said something I found very profound. He said, “The temple recommend interview is the Celestial Kingdom interview.” I have never heard it put that way before. The comment caught my attention and made me feel so hopeful. We are all enormously imperfect and often I feel like I’m so far away from being the person I need to be to gain salvation that I get discouraged. (Yup. It’s one of those three D’s we just heard about in General Conference. The adversary definitely knows how to get to us.) But the thought that because I’m worthy to enter the temple, I’m worthy of the Celestial Kingdom makes me feel like maybe I’m doing all right. We’re all lacking in the area of perfection, but because of the Savior’s atonement, we don’t actually have to be perfect to be worthy.

Thought #2: In the course of my scripture study this morning, I ended up reading “Grateful in Any Circumstances” by Dieter F. Uchtdorf. It is a talk I have previously read on multiple occasions, but a different part stuck out to me today. Since Daniel entered the MTC, there is a thought that keeps playing through my mind: things will never be the same. There will never be another time when all my children are living at home full time. One stage of our lives has ended and although I’m so proud of Daniel and know not only that he is in the right place, but that I wouldn’t want it any other way, it is still a little bittersweet to think that my little brood is beginning to leave the nest. Elder Uchtdorf said:

“In light of what we know about our eternal destiny, is it any wonder that whenever we face the bitter endings of life, they seem unacceptable to us? There seems to be something inside of us that resists endings.

Why is this? Because we are made of the stuff of eternity. We are eternal beings, children of the Almighty God, whose name is Endless and who promises eternal blessings without number. Endings are not our destiny.

The more we learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the more we realize that endings here in mortality are not endings at all. They are merely interruptions—temporary pauses that one day will seem small compared to the eternal joy awaiting the faithful.”

I know that he was talking about the endings that come when loved ones pass away, but I found it to be applicable to other endings as well. I have reached the end of the time when all my children are young and living at home. In the next few years, more of my children will leave and I know myself well enough to know I will have mixed feelings as each one flies away. But these are only interruptions, ones that will have brief endings on holidays and vacations. More importantly, because of the gospel and the promises associated with the covenants we make in the temple, there will be even greater, more joyful future reunions, ones that will never end.

So yes, there are moments when I’m a little blue. But putting things in the proper perspective reminds me that these endings are temporary and that there are great blessings to come, times of glorious familial associations. And as a mom of a new missionary, one who is headed to his field of service tomorrow morning, he is spending these two years away from home so that other people can know about and look forward to these amazing future reunions as well.