Coming into 2018, I was just getting out from some major spiritual doldrums. Years prior, I had served as an Elders Quorum President and had a disagreement with the Bishop about a calling and ended up being released. Regardless of who was right or wrong, I felt justified in my position and combined with the spiritual let down that seems to accompany being released from a busy calling, I allowed a wedge to limit my spiritual growth for awhile. 

Well, as I said, I was working my way out of this period when my wife was up and called as Relief Society President in our small ward. She was totally humbled by the calling, but humbled to the point where she started allowing self doubt and negative self talk to creep into her life. She was struggling and needed support, but I was barely to a point where I could support myself. I’m probably coming across as being overly dramatic, but to put it frankly, in this time, if not for our friends and family in the ward, we very easily may have pulled away from the church. Not that we would’ve stopped going each Sunday, but we definitely wouldn’t have been magnifying our callings and looking for opportunities to serve.

Anyway, as we were trying to work through these issues, the idea popped into my head that we need to go to the Temple. I booked the next day off work, booked my parents to watch the kids, and we went. I wish I could say that it was a spiritually enlightening experience but I can’t. In fact, I can’t remember much from those earlier temple trips this year, except we decided we needed to go more regularly and committed to go once a month for the rest of the year. As much as we enjoyed being in the temple, the 2-hour drive to and from the temple was just as important to us as time to reconnect. It wasn’t until the summer, when we had gone in early June, and then not again until late July that we realized just how much being in the temple meant to us and how much we missed being there.  Which was crazy because for those first 6 months, it felt like we could come up with any number of excuses to not go to the temple, but we persisted.

Since the early days of 2018, we have recommitted ourselves, we have re-evaluated how we spend our time, and are prioritizing the things that matter most, instead of things that matter in the moment. We’ve spent a lot of time in study. I’ve recommitted myself to scripture study and to honest, open, and out loud prayer each morning before studying the scriptures. I told my Father in Heaven when I was frustrated, disappointed or mad about something. I also begged for forgiveness for mistakes I have made. I’ve prayed for family, friends, and even people I’ve had disagreements with. (Life hack, praying for your enemies helps you to better empathize with them and see things from their perspective.) Anyway, these things are no-brainers, but they have crept out of my life and the lack of me prioritizing them is as much to blame for my struggles as any wedge. 

I beg you, if you want to make a change in your life, please let that change include a recommitment to scripture study, personal prayer, and temple attendance. And probably most important, remember that you are a Child of God and He loves you. Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day, or miss a visit, just continue where you left off. Too much is at stake to delay making the changes you need to make that will bring you closer to God.

The temple is so important for us. While it’s true that it gives us an eternal perspective, a much easier concept for me to understand is the temple ‘grounds’ or ‘recalibrates’ our soul. We are finely tuned instruments who need to be calibrated regularly. If we don’t take care to centre ourselves, or ground ourselves, or re-calibrate, we run the risk of losing control of ourselves. We need to be attending the temple, and we need to be going often. It will change your life. So go and go often!

~Todd Bruce

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