Breaking New Ground

Close to our home stands a beautiful wheat field.  For the past eight years that we have lived here, we have enjoyed its presence in the neighborhood-- a piece of rural pleasantry in the ever-encroaching suburbia.

Then one cold wintry day last year, our community was rocked by the news that our wheat field would soon be no more.

For months there had been rumors that a temple was going to be built in the area.  We, like so many others, assumed that it would be built in a neighboring community up on the mountain bluffs, where it would overlook the entire valley.

But we were wrong.

And on January 25th, President Thomas S. Monson announced that a temple of God would grace our beautiful field.  A temple.  Just a stone's throw from the steps of our home.  It was dizzying to think about.

Today we received further news that the ground breaking ceremony for the temple will take place in just a few short weeks.  On that day our family will walk to this field and witness as an apostle of the Lord consecrates the ground and overturns the first shovelful of dirt.  Once again, dizzying.

I am so filled with gratitude, peace, and joy.

I never would have imagined that I would have the opportunity to be able to raise my children in the shadow of the Lord's House.  As a young girl, my parents had to travel over 700 miles to attend the nearest temple in Washington D.C..  Certainly, it was a sacrifice to travel there, and consequentially there were not frequent opportunities to be able to serve regularly.  And then there was an announcement.  A temple was to be built in the Chicago area, only an hour's drive from our home!  I can vividly remember visiting the open house for that beautiful temple when I was seven years old.  I can remember the wonderment and awe I felt as I walked through the halls and rooms of that sacred edifice, scarcely able to believe that it was a reality.  But it was.  And I grew up with a deep appreciation for that beautiful temple and the privilege that it was to be able to serve within its walls frequently as a young woman.

Now, those same feelings I felt as a child of seven have come around full circle, as my oldest son is just about the same age I was at that special time in my life.  I pray that he will share a similar spiritual experience as he lives through this remarkable time in his life.

I am so incredibly humbled and thankful. 

My heart rejoices.     
And our cup runneth over.