Temples are a House of Learning – Even While Vacuuming in the Dead of Night
Temples are a House of Learning – Even While Vacuuming in the Dead of Night
By Becky Watson
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worship anywhere and everywhere; we believe the holiest place on earth is wherever you speak to God. Alma, a prophet in ancient America, advised his people: (Alma 34:18-27)
18 Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save.
19 Yea, humble yourselves, and continue in prayer unto him.
20 Cry unto him when ye are in your fields, yea, over all your flocks.
21 Cry unto him in your houses, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid-day, and evening….
24 Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that ye may prosper in them.
25 Cry over the flocks of your fields, that they may increase.
26 But this is not all; ye must pour out your souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness.
27 Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare, and also for the welfare of those who are around you.
Fields, houses, crops, flocks, closets, secret places, wilderness. I think “anywhere” pretty much covers it. Even the very founder of the restored church met deity in his own backyard. [i]
However, we give special significance to temples.
In ancient times, temples were recognized as a place to make covenants with God. Moses crossed the wilderness carrying the tabernacle, and Solomon built a temple modeled after Moses’.
While they look quite different thousands of years later, we still make covenants in temples today. These covenants endow us with the capacity and power to return to Heavenly Father some day. We promise to keep the laws of obedience, sacrifice, chastity, and others that help us be like Him.[ii] The temple is a place that empowers and uplifts; when you enter, the world fades away and you feel divinity coursing through your soul. Once you have made these covenants for yourself, you then get to return again and again to perform those same services for your kindred dead. In an act of pure love and mercy, Heavenly Father gives every person who ever walked the earth the opportunity to draw closer to Him. We believe that those spirits that have passed on have the choice to accept or reject the services we perform on their behalf. It is a glorious experience to serve those we love who are no longer with us.
But sometimes, our service in temples is much more humble. Sometimes, we vacuum.
Every night, after the last patron leaves, an army of volunteers arrives to scrub the temple from top to bottom. I had such an opportunity a couple weeks ago, and I find myself still pondering on the experience.
I was assigned to vacuum the seemingly endless miles of carpet in the women’s dressing room. You would think that the toilets would be the least desirable job, but I’m here to tell you that vacuuming is worse. Back and forth, in and out of locker stalls, the vacuum is heavy and the cord interminably long. The carpet in there is that thick, commercial density that doesn’t show satisfying lines. In fact, the temple seemed so darn clean to begin with that I wondered why I was even vacuuming at all. I was pushing this ancient contraption that was almost as big as me for literally hours and had nothing to show for it.
And then! - a piece of string!
I broke out into a grin and attacked the teeny white string with vigor. I was thrilled to finally DO something!
But the string was clinging to the edge of the wall, directly underneath a locker that effectively blocked the vacuum. So of course I did what was only natural – I picked it up and placed it directly in the path of my behemoth machine. Ha! Take that, you filthy thread that dares to besmirch the House of the Lord! I think I actually said it out loud.
And then the Spirit started to speak to me.
You are the string, whispered my Savior. I am so, so happy when you allow me to clean you. And if you’re in a hard to reach place? I’ll pick you up and put you where I can help.
Too many times I have thought of repentance as grudging work – accompanied by a crushing guilt that I’ve let the Savior down again. But that is what He DOES. That is what He LOVES to do. He is excited to see us use the enabling power of the Atonement, and will do everything within His considerable power to allow it to reach us.
I testify that repentance is a principle of joy. Our Lord Jesus Christ is desperate to cleanse – to purify – to sanctify. He loves us. The silly pleasure I had in vacuuming that little string is magnified exponentially in His joy in wiping clean our sins. That’s what He does. That’s what He wants to do.
Because He loves us.
