My love and admiration for Martin Harris has grown this year as I have studied church history and really pondered the sacrifices he was asked to make. Obviously there were financial sacrifices...mortgaging his lovely farm in order to pay for the publishing of the Book of Mormon. But also the difficulties and tensions it created in his marriage and family. I can understand that it must have been such a difficult situation...knowing that this was the work of God and wanting to be a part of it but also wanting to maintain peace and love in his home and marriage. His sacrifices were great! And his sacrifices have blessed my life in profound ways!
The Palmyra Temple is small but so beautiful. The grounds are lovely and I love that you can see the natural beauty of the area... the woods that surround it. As I stood on the grounds I pictured Joseph working on the farm just up the road, experiencing so much persecution from neighbors and religious leaders. They thought he was a fraud. It must have been hard, at the ages that my girls are now, to experience such difficulties. Could he have imagined at that age what miracles would occur and how the work would grow? When he was forced to leave Palmyra area and head to Kirtland and then Missouri and Nauvoo that one day people would stand where he once stood and ponder the Lord’s work and the blessings of the gospel restored by this prophet of God? Could he have imagined that one day temples would be found in nearly every nation and on each continent and many of the islands of the sea? Including so close to his boyhood home? I hope to always live so that I can stand in holy places, always be worthy to enter the holy temple and always be a part of the work of the Lord. Due to Covid, Gabby and I couldn’t enter the temple but I appreciated the opportunity to walk around the grounds.
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