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This is a departure from my normal New Year’s Resolution weekend posts, but our third daughter is going to the temple for the first time today – coincidentally on my birthday. I have spent part of the evening talking with her about it, and she astounded me with a simple observation I want to share here. I talked with her about how I view the temple ordinances as almost completely symbolic – and that there is great power for me in the symbolism and figurative nature of turning our hearts to our fathers and serving them in a symbolic way on a regular basis. I asked her if she understood what I mean by the difference between viewing ordinances as symbolic and thinking they are literally necessary as we currently perform them, and she said the following – to the best of my recollection:
Quote:It’s like the Jews using circumcision and us using baptism now. That symbolism worked for them, but it doesn’t work for us. Baptism works better.
She then added:
Quote:It’s like when kids at school tell me we worship Joseph Smith because we sing “Praise to the Man”. They only use “praise” as a religious term when they are talking about God, so they assume we don’t worship God when we praise prophets. They just don’t understand that it’s ok to praise people for what they do and to worship God. It’s the meaning of the word to us that’s important – the symbolism we see in it.
She’s a great kid, and I’m proud of her. I’m not certain I’ve ever shared the first example with her directly, and I’m pretty sure I haven’t shared the second one, but they are two specific examples I have used in the past with others.
I’m glad she understands the concept of symbolism at this age, since I believe it will help her tremendously as she gets older and faces other things that often are difficult to reconcile in a more literal paradigm but have great power when viewed symbolically.
That conversation will hopefully enhance her temple experience and lead to it being a positive one. Thanks for sharing. There were a couple of really neat experiences during the baptisms today. 1) One of the men in our ward had some family file names, and he really choked up when he baptized his daughter for the first person. I asked his daughter who that person was while she was waiting to be confirmed (while her father was performing some baptisms with his son), and she said it was her grandmother – her father’s mother. I didn’t have time to ask for clarification, but she said they had found the necessary information while they were in Cincinnati recently – which made me wonder if this is a “biological mother” of an adopted son, or some other unique situation.
I understand fully that it probably was nothing more than emotion, but it still was deeply touching to see a man who obviously cared so deeply about doing something for his mother – especially if it was a mother he never knew. (
It also reminded me of how little we really know about many of the people in our congregations.) 2) I was baptizing one of the other young women in the ward, and things were going normally. I have a decent short-term memory for names I read, and I know the prayer by heart, so I try whenever possible to take a moment and read the name, memorize it and then close my eyes and say the prayer in the same way we normally think of a prayer being said. I don’t like the old rushed way of saying the prayer at a breakneck pace, so I slow it down just enough to articulate each word clearly – and I lower my arm and pause while reading the next name in order to make it a clear break between people being baptized. I then raise my arm and start again.
I baptized this particular girl for ten people, and it was a little difficult at first. She is 12, and she was going down into the water in such a way that she barely was getting immersed, so I whispered some simple directions on how to make it easier – but in trying to do what I had suggested, she ended up complicating it and making it even harder. After about the third baptism, she whispered something about contradicting instructions – and I realized I had complicated it for her with my attempt to help and started to make her frustrated. (
There’s a valuable lesson there for lots of things we discuss here, I believe.) I apologized to her and took a second while I looked at the next name to say a really quick, simple, silent prayer that she would have a good experience during the rest of the baptisms – then I started again. The next one went very well, as did the one after that. The next person had only a first name listed, and as soon as I said the words, “for and in behalf of Eva” – I got all choked up myself and literally had to pause for probably ten seconds just to get my own emotions under control. My voice cracked a little as I ended with, “in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.” That feeling disappeared completely as soon as that particular ordinance was over, and there was nothing out of the ordinary for the rest of the time I was there.
I have NO idea if that experience was just emotional or something more – and I have no idea if it was to help that young woman and/or me. I just know it was a really neat experience – the strongest I’ve ever had in that situation, and one of only a handful for me like it over the decades in the setting of the temple.
Wow. Regardless of the “reasons” it seemed to be a special experience and I think that’s what’s important. I always loved doing baptisms but have never done them since my endowment. Barriers kept standing in my way and I kind of gave up on the idea of doing them again until a little while ago. Then a barrier came to prevent me again and I still haven’t. Your experience has inspired me to try again 
It sounds like you have a pretty wonderful daughter — and thoughtful too, who is already coping with the literal vs symbolic nature of our religion. Thank you for posting about your temple experience. My last several visits to the temple have been uncomfortable/empty. I have been struggling spiritually for awhile and it was heartening for me to realize that not all temple visits come with a spiritual experience but that they are possible. Even sometimes out of the blue. Quote:My Daughter Is Going to the Temple for the First Time Today
So will I soon. I never went when I was in the church before.
I now have my temple recommend. Well kind of, they ran out of the papers, as the upcoming ward trip has been so popular.
I hope it is a good experience, Sam. Quote:not all temple visits come with a spiritual experience but that they are possible.
That’s how I’ve come to view lots of things, trudge52 – moments of brilliance surrounded by sometimes long stretches of normalcy.
Thanks! I’m looking forward to it. I’m going down with the ward, and since it’s a long (day) trip, I’ll hopefully get to know some of them.
I’m sure my experience is a bit different from a young woman, but this post is very relevant to me just now. I’m not sure I can handle the endowment just yet, but anyway.
I was apprehensive about some temple stuff, but it’s amazing how Biblical a lot of it is, such as the twelve oxen.
Thanks for sharing these experiences Ray, they are very valuable.
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