Swept Away
The afternoon sunshine streamed through the window as I finished folding the laundry. Fresh bread still sat on the counter waiting to be put away. The children had separated to play or read after finishing up their snack. A peaceful feeling filled me. After a busy week of running in and out I was finally at home, all day, just puttering, cleaning, baking and putting things right. I love being home.
In the middle of this contentment my husband came in and told me that there had been an earthquake in Japan. We turned on the computer and watched the tsunami hit the coast. I held my hand to my mouth as I watched the water sweeping everything in its path; homes, cars, boats and debris. What had been permanent and solid for people just minutes before was gone, just like that. I felt a deep sense of sadness as I watched the homes and lives of the Japanese being swept away.
In a later broadcast a reporter said that only buildings made of stone survived the rushing onslaught of water. All other buildings had given way. It was a vivid reminder of the things I’ve learned since I was a little child. It matters how you build your house.
Take Care How You Build
It began with the story of The Three Little Pigs. How silly I thought those first two little pig were for building homes out of straw and twigs. And in contrast how wise the third little pig was for building his out of brick. The lesson was clear. If you have wolves in the neighborhood take care how you build.
In Primary I learned to sing of the wise man and the foolish man. As I grew older I learned the words the Savior spoke. “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock . . . And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand (Matthew 7:24, 26).” And as I grew in understanding I realized that he wasn’t speaking of houses at all. He was speaking about our lives.
The way we build our lives matter as much, if not more, as how we build our houses. Our physical houses protect us from the elements. They provide a place of safety and refuge. But more than that they provide a place for building the kind of lives that will withstand even greater calamities than earthquakes and tsunamis.
“This then is our building project. We are master builders of eternal houses even temples of God.
‘Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God (Doctrine and Covenants 88:119).’
Then the Lord, even our building inspector, may say to us as He said when he appeared to Solomon, a builder of another day, ‘I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually (1 Kings 9:3).’
Thomas S. Monson, General Conference, April 1984
Stone on Stone
Every day we are building those eternal houses. If you’ve ever built a house yourself you know it isn’t an overnight project, but one that takes time and forethought. It is the same for the lives that we want to build for our families and ourselves. The stones are placed one on top of the other by “one family prayer, one scripture study session, one family home evening, one book read aloud, one song, and one family meal at a time (L. Tom Perry, General Conference, April 2010).”
Several months ago I read President Thomas S. Monson’s prayer on the site of the Rome temple. In his prayer he quoted the essayist John Ruskin as saying:
Wherefore, when we build let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight, nor for present use alone; let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for, and let us think as we lay stone on stone that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred, because our hands have touched them; and men will say as they look upon the labour and wrought substances of them: ‘See this our fathers did for us.’”
“Let us think that we build forever.” In the day-to-day work that I do in my home I don’t think much about forever. I mostly think about today and tomorrow and maybe to next summer, but rarely forever. When I am in the temple that is where forever is present in my heart and mind. It is there that I remember that I am building my own “eternal house, even a temple of God.” It is also there that I remember that those daily tasks are the stones with which I am building. Am I using the right materials? Is my stone like granite? Is my foundation firm and will it hold up my house?
Stand Through the Millennium
Several years ago when the church celebrated the building of the Salt Lake Temple our family purchased the film, The Mountain of the Lord. This was our son’s favorite video to watch on Sunday afternoons so we saw it many times. I was inspired over and over again as I watched the sacrifices made to build the temple that would become a symbol of our faith.
I particularly loved the scene where the foundation of the temple has been uncovered after having been buried to protect it from Johnston’s army. When the stones are revealed they are cracked and it is obvious that they won’t hold a granite temple. Wilford Woodruff finds President Brigham Young sitting on the stones and he speaks of his frustration and disappointment with what they have found. Brigham Young recites all the saints have endured to put that foundation in. Then he says that he expects the temple to stand through the millennium. As the vision of that comes to him you see the discouragement turn to determination and he declares that they will take up the foundation and begin again.
When I think of my own life and the life of my family I want the same thing. I want our family to stand through the millennium and beyond. When I review what we do I sometimes see cracks in our foundation, cracks that could topple us if left unattended. It is then that I have to remember that temple vision of what I am really working for. No matter what the cost in effort or time I know it is paramount to discard what isn’t working and begin again. It is so important to build our lives on a solid foundation.
It is as Helaman told his sons, “Remember, remember that is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which yea are built, which is a sure foundation a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall (Helaman 5:12).
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Mortal life is full of storms, earthquakes and tsunamis of both the physical and spiritual kind. How we build our eternal houses matters. The simple daily things that keep us focused on Christ really will help us build forever and stand through the millennium.
