For the Temple is a Holy Place

Have you ever been in a place so quiet that you don't dare to breathe for fear of breaking a silence so vast you can almost hear it? One of my favorite places in the world to go is to the grounds of LDS temples. There is a peace there that can only be found in the rarest of places. Not very often can we find such places in this world today. A place where you can think, contemplate and ponder without interruption. I remember a time when I was on BYU campus, and while waiting for my dad to finish work I decided to go up to the LDS Provo Temple. I decided that I would walk around behind the temple. As soon as I walked around to the back, it was as if the rest of the world suddenly no longer existed. The quiet was almost deafening, if you know what I mean. But it was a peaceful quiet, a relaxing quiet. I remember just sitting there, feeling an overwhelming sense of peace, of comfort and joy. I knew that just up the hill from where I sat lay a road with cars and homes just across the street. But it was as if a sound barrier had been put up and no sound was allowed to escape into the perimeter surrounding the temple. Even the birds had stopped their singing as a sign of respect to the sacredness of the temple. It was an experience that I will not forget in a hurry. The temple truly is the House of the Lord and it is a very Holy Place. Every temple I have ever been to has had the same feeling of security and peace about it. Just a few weeks ago I had the oppurtunity to go on tour to Idaho, Montanna and Canada with a commuinty choir. We stopped at a couple of different temples, but it was always the same in that each temple seemed so cut off from the hustle and bustle of the 21st century. Walking onto the temple grounds is an amazing and joyous experience. I like to think that leaving the world and going into the temples is a lot like what it is going to be for us when we return back to the gates of Heaven to live with our Heavenly Father in his Heavenly home.