Why Didn't I Think of this Before?

L woke me early this morning.  Whenever this happens, I have a hard time falling back to sleep, so I laid there and thought about today.  I felt a tad guilty about yesterday because I spent so much time getting those darned coupons organized.  I felt bad that T sat there and watched DVDs.  Now having a sixteen year old, I realize just how short a duration they are small, and I value that time with them.  I don't want to see a day pass by that I don't make some kind of difference on my kids while I've got them under my roof.  There, that's the reason for my guilt, and yes, I am hard on myself.

Anyway, as I lay there in bed, I really got to pondering about what I could do to make a difference today.  It suddenly occurred to me (yes, I know where these kinds of thoughts come from) that I should take him to the temple.

The beautiful thing about our temple is that we have an atrium inside.  It's just behind the foyer.  Anyone can go into the foyer and the atrium--even a three-year-old and his most beloved baby sister.

When we got up this morning, I told T that he needed to get dressed in nice clothes today because we were going to the temple.  He immediately got excited.  He had been to the temple before.  Shortly after hearing this address at this past April's General Conference, we took our kids to the temple for Family Home Evening the next night, but because it was a Monday, the temple was closed, so this was his first opportunity to step inside.

I was curious to see his reaction.

We walked around outside.  We parked near the beautiful fountain, so that grabbed his attention first.  We then walked around to the opposite side to see the reflecting pool.  Z and I have a photo from our wedding day standing by the reflecting pool, so I told T I'd take his picture there too.  We then climbed the stairs to get to the front of the temple, so we could go in.

As we entered, I asked the sweet, little lady dressed in white if it was okay to bring him in.  She said, "Oh, of course."  We walked through the foyer to the atrium.  T smelled every plant and flower he found there.  He was so quiet.  He was quiet on the grounds too, but it was nothing like how he was inside.  I would almost say he was silent, and no, I hadn't coached him.

I know how I feel in the temple.  To me, it is the closest place to heaven on this earth.  I wondered how he'd be.  His silence was a natural response to being in such a holy place.

We walked around the atrium.  He asked if he could sit, and I asked him if I could take his picture:

We got up and walked back out to the foyer, stood there for a few minutes, and then decided it was time to go out again.  As soon as we got out the front door, T turned back again and asked if he could go back inside.  He wanted to sit in the foyer for a few minutes.  I conceded, and we went back in.

He went in and just sat.  He just sat!  That's all he wanted to do.  He just wanted to be there.  For a few minutes, I wondered who this child was.  This wasn't my running, jumping, climbing, yelling boy.  No, this was a child of God.  This was a boy who understood the importance of whose house he was in.

He had entered the temple of God, and the temple of God had entered him.  Priceless!