Short Trip: Finding Simple Peace at the Templenacle

Last night I took an accidental solitary pilgrimage to the future site of the new Provo Temple, in Provo, Utah. I have stopped there before to show friends from out of town, or just to look and be excited. Yesterday was different. I meant to drive by, but the building beckoned me to take some time to ponder near it's walls.

I remember the day the edifice burned. I could smell smoke from my apartment six blocks north. The air was hard to breathe and my bus to work took a detour.

For months the sad building stood, while it's future was decided. There were many rumors. Some said they should destroy it, sell the bricks and build another one, others said they could leave it as it was and create an outdoor museum, still more people thought it could make a good cannery, park, community center, etc. Nobody could have guessed what this broken building would become. This October, President Thomas S. Monson, the Prophet of the Lord, announced that the Tabernacle's walls would be restored and used to rebuild the building. This is not reconstruction, but construction of a Temple.

As I looked at that broken building last night, I thought about how I felt. In some ways I am broken, burned from life's experiences, and in desperate need of reconstruction. But what will I become? I could throw out all of who I am and independentlty rebuild myself into a successful person. I could do nothing and accept my lot in life. I could mold myself in a way that counselors, friends, society, etc would. Outside influences might not know what I can become, but the Savior of mankind has plans for me. By allowing me to be cut down, He can now build me into something greater than anyone, especially myself, would have guessed. This can only happen if I allow my life to be rebuilt by that most holy carpenter, Jesus Christ. This is not reconstruction, but it is construction, a work in progress in purification as I allow the Lord to create a Temple of my life.

When you feel broken, torn, with your heart failing and full of despair, seek in yourself Faith that things will get better. "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer I have overcome the world." John 16:33

This is an artist's rendering of what the new Provo Temple will look like when it is complete. Unfortunately, I do not have an artist's rendering of myself, although I think if there was one I would have six pack abs on the outside and a whole lot of awesomeness on the inside :)

Short Devotional: "Remember Lot's Wife" by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

I had a wonderful time in Denver. Michaela, Jarrod and I commented on how "real" the people we talked with are as opposed to the "happy valley" personalities we find in Provo. Last night I talked to several different friends and realized that we are all moving forward. My roommate and best friend, Logan, and I talked into the night. He told me he needs to be more independent and move on...as in move out. This won't be next semester, but it will be soon and I welcome it. I need to grow. I need to be more independent. I depend heavily on my friends, maybe this is what I need to grow by myself. They will always be there to catch me if I fall, but they don't need to hold me all the time. Everyday is a time to change and grow, but some days it comes in spurts. I am excited for the future.

I love the talk, Remember Lot's Wife, by Elder Jeffery R. Holland, an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. I attended the BYU devotional that January. I will never forget what I felt and I continually learn from these words. "Faith is for the Future."

The BYU Devotional Talk "Remember Lot's Wife," by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland can be found on the BYU Broadcasting website.

Short Story: "The Peripatetic Coffin" By Ethan Rutherford

The narrator is Ward Lumpkin, a lame soldier on the gray side of the American Civil War. The story explains how a group of misfit confederate soldiers volunteered to pilot the doomed H. L. Hunley, a primitive submarine, and successfully destroy a Yankee ship.

The conclusion of this tale presents an emotional scene. The submarine is sinking. Lumpkin is up to his neck in water. The spirit of his dad comes to visit him. They talk about what it means that these few sailors volunteered to die, when the Confederacy was so close to capsizing. With vicksburg and New Orleans in Federal hands and the Charleston Port under blockade, a mission to sink a Yankee ship in the harbor was suicide. They discuss the idea that in 100 years people will point to the optimism of the would be heroes. Lumpkin argues that their motivation was closer to Desperation.

It is Thanksgiving Eve and I am in Denver, Colorado with my good friends Michaela and Jarrod. We are celebrating Thanksgiving with some of Jarrod's friends because Denver is closer than my parents' in The Gila Valley, and Jarrod and Michaela's families in Seattle, Washington. Jarrod served a two year LDS mission here. I have loved the day. This is my first trip to Denver. However, I am terribly homesick. Denver is wonderful. The weather is perfect, our host family is interesting, and my friends are the best company anybody could ask for, but something about Thanksgiving without family is troubling. I've celebrated the holiday away from home twice before, but It was as hard then as it is now. My family may take the vestiges of my Thanksgiving Vacation to be a college student's whim by going to Denver and being spontaneous. What I really want is some sense of family. Just as the people who judge the wreak of that submarine, they see optimism, and I feel desperate.

This short Story comes from: The Best American Short Stories: 2009 Edited by Alice Sebold.