Whenever my daughter and I used to take walks up to the temple, we would walk up and around it. I always felt that this was sufficient, though there had been times that I thought about walking into the temple grounds. I was good at making excuses: "Maybe I'm not supposed to," "Maybe I'll feel dumb," "I'll wait until I'm wearing a dress." But of course, day after day, that wouldn't happen. I basked in the beauty of the view and the parts of the temple and grounds that I could see through the fence. I very much enjoyed these walks.
One day I was wearing a skirt and decided to spend some time on the temple grounds. I knew it would be beautiful, but I didn't expect it to be much different from my normal walk. I was wrong.
The beauty of the temple, the flowers, the fountain, the people walking by: it was overwhelming, as was the abundance of the spirit to be felt there even outside the temple. The sound of the water in the fountain was soothing; the smell of the roses was lovely, so sweet. The contrasts of the deep blue water and white foam against the greenery around it and the light blue sky was stunning. I could see the whole valley so clearly, with the lake in the distance, and the mountains beyond that with wispy, colorful clouds above them. And just above and beyond that was a daytime half-moon.
At that moment I felt such a powerful appreciation for all of God's creations, especially the beautiful little girl I held in my arms. He created it all, and He loves it all, especially us, His daughters and sons.
As I was walking back all I could think of was how much I had been missing out on by walking around the outside of the temple grounds instead of going into them, and how this is analogous to the way we sometimes live the gospel.
I've always been an active member of the church, but I wasn't until recently a full partaker of the gospel, and I had no idea what I was missing out on! I didn't know I could feel the spirit so strongly or often. I didn't know I was falling so short of my potential.
There are differing levels of commitment to the gospel. Far too often we walk on the outskirts, satisfied with being casual onlookers and half-hearted participants in the church. I'm here to say that there is a far better way, and it blesses you with indescribable joy, hope, peace, and love! When we step onto the temple grounds, figuratively speaking, we choose to own up to the principles of happiness that we know but don't live fully. It takes courage and self-discipline, but it's so worth the effort. We live celestial laws as far and as fully as is possible. We separate ourselves from the world in our words and actions. We become purified. We choose to give our whole selves, our lives, our energies, our hearts to God.
I have experienced this. I needed to give my whole heart to God, and not try to keep a foot in the door to Babylon through all of those "favorite sins." I needed to sacrifice them all along with my identity, so that God could give me a new and a better identity: my true identity as a daughter of God.
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