It's no secret that I love the temple.
But I deeply love the Provo Temple.
I love its history, I love its odd architecture, I love its holiness.
When the new Provo City Center Temple was announced, I was thrilled.
But I knew that the old Provo temple would always be "my" temple.
I have sixteen years of spiritual history with that place and that is hard to compete with.
A few weeks ago I came to a point where I felt depleted.
I was mentally, spiritually, and physically exhausted.
One night I texted the Relief Society president and asked her to please find someone to take my volunteer shifts at the new temple open house.
I was spent and I just couldn't face them.
I decided to go ahead and do my first one, but for the others, she found replacements.
And so, before the sun came up one morning, I was inside that beautiful temple,
positioned near a stunning stain-glass window of the Savior.
My job was to point people to the exit of the tour, but I felt my real responsibility was to help people to see that window. It was easy to miss if you weren't looking for it.
And so I found myself whispering, "Please don't miss the beautiful Savior right behind you,"
and "Don't forget to look up."
The shift was a long five hours of standing and smiling.
But when I left, my heart was just as swollen as my feet. :)
As luck would have it, those same shifts I gave away, needed to be filled for someone else.
I took them.
And each day, the temple has lifted my mood, cut through this funk that I can't seem to shake,
and energized my exhausted spirit.
It was as if that temple was whispering to me, "Don't miss the Savior right there behind you, and don't forget to look up."
Provo, you do temples really well.
