Renovating The Temple

Every month, the Young Women in our ward have a discussion with each other and us leaders based around a talk from our most recent General Conference session. I've talked about what General Conference is before, and even included a video that gives a sort of taste of what happens at Conference and honestly I can't tell you enough about how much it means to me and just how much I get from the talks and from listening to the Spirit whilst I'm listening to the talks.

It's a really spiritual thing and honestly, I think if you'd watch you'd get it and want to know more, so I'll remember to invite you to join me the first weekend of October!

Last month, I was leading the discussion with the Young Women, and I picked a talk which to be honest the girls had mostly overlooked, as it was the closing remarks of our Prophet and from what the young women had said, they thought this was just where he said it was a great conference and talked about the new Temples that were being built.

It was so much more than this.

I had read this talk so many times since it was given back in April. I knew the different parts that had touched me and I wanted the young women to understand those parts too and to see if they felt the Spirit too. I wanted them to be able to see that our Prophet has so much to say and teach us and to help us to understand, even when we thought Conference was over.

Have you ever read 1 Corinthians 6:19?

"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, 

which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"

It tells us, that our bodies are temples for the Holy Ghost. That they are tabernacles where the Spirit can dwell. We should, therefore, treat our bodies like a Temple, our bodies house our Spirit, they allow us to house the Holy Ghost. Our bodies are a gift from God. 

We respect our bodies, our temples, by giving them the right foods and not having substances that may harm us or we may get addicted to, by exercising and treating our bodies right and yes saying that as an overweight, underactive 40-year-old woman who has just been told her iron level is low I get the irony and I do try, but I know I should try a little harder.

The main message is that we respect our bodies, our temples, by following the laws and the rules set by God.

Within the closing remarks, the Prophet talks a little about how there are Temples that are being renewed and restored and how it is our duty, our sacred responsibility to look after the Temples, to renovate them and then a little later says;

"As we speak of our temples old and new, may each of us signify by our actions that we are true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. May we renovate our lives through our faith and trust in Him."

It was the part about renovating our lives that struck us, as we all simultaneously realised that just like the Temples we were talking about being renovated, about being restored and preserved and made like new, we could do this to ourselves too.

Each time we take the Sacrament and renew our covenants.

Each day as we try our best to be the kind of person we want to be.

Each time we pray.

Each day as we study our Scriptures and talks.

Each time we serve those around us.

We are temples and we need to renovate ourselves.