Good morning sweet sisters!

Our lesson today is from Elder L. Whitney Clayton’s talk: The Finest Homes…Here is the link to read it in its original format. Below is an outline of his talk. My comments and questions will be highlighted in yellow.
 

Here are three quotes from his talk:

 

“The finest characteristic of any home is the image of Christ reflected in the homes’ residents.”

“As we become more like [the Lord], we will feel at home in His house, and He will feel at home in ours.”
 

“Wherever you live, whatever your house looks like, and whatever the composition of your family, you can help build the finest home for your family. The restored gospel of Jesus Christ provides the plans for that home.”

 

Summary points:

• The quality of a home depends not on its furnishings or size but on the spiritual qualities of those who live in it.

• Building a fine home requires its residents to reflect the image of Christ, study scriptures daily and repent.

• The finest homes are patterned after the temple — the house of the Lord.

 

Question: What does patterned after the temple mean to you? Elder Clayton is not the first to say it like this, Elder Bednar is often quoted about patterns and he has recently spoke to this subject of having our homes patterned after the temple. I’ll quote from him further below.

 

• Talk summary: 

 

 

• After seeing a billboard advertising furniture that read, “Serving the Finest Homes in Salt Lake City,” Elder Clayton pondered the home in which he and his wife raised their children, the homes in which their children are raising children and the homes of Church members around the world.

• “What is a ‘finest home’?” A fine home depends on the spiritual qualities of its residents, and the best possible attribute for a home is that the image of Christ be reflected in the countenances of those who live there.
  
  
  Question: How often do we hang a picture of Christ or display a statue of the Christus in our home and think that is creating the image of “Him?”  I really like how Elder Clayton says…it’s in the process of time’ by ‘intentional progress along the covenant path.’ Coming unto Christ is a daily process.
  
   

“What matters is the interior design of the souls of the inhabitants, not the structure itself. The attributes of Christ are acquired in the ‘process of time’ by intentional progress along the covenant path. Christlike attributes adorn the lives of those who strive to live with goodness. They fill homes with gospel light, whether the floor is mud or marble.”
 

• Residents can transform their homes into the finest homes by studying the scriptures and the words of living prophets every day. The scriptures tell stories of families, showing how righteous living results in blessings.
  
  “…residents in the finest homes make time to study the scriptures and the words of living prophets every day. President Russell M. Nelson has invited us to “transform” and “remodel” our homes through gospel study.4 His invitation recognizes that fine homes house the tender, vital work of personal growth and remodeling our weaknesses. Daily repentance is a transformative tool that enables us to grow a little kinder, more loving, and more understanding. Studying the scriptures brings us closer to the Savior, whose generous love and grace assist us with our growth.”
   

• The finest homes are patterned after the temple. Keeping commandments and practicing steady discipleship transforms individuals and the homes they live in. “As we continue in faith, the Lord gradually changes us. We receive His image in our countenance and begin to reflect the love and beauty of His character.”
  
  Have you ever walked into a home where their living room is “patterned” like the celestial room, the style of sofa, chairs, the colors and maybe even a chandelier hanging from the ceiling?
  
  I have.
  
  Maybe to this family it reminds them to speak quietly while in that room. Possibly, they go into this room to meditate and find solitude after a busy day? All good intentions, but like Elder Clayton is emphasizing, it does not matter what the living room and house looks like to bring the temple into our home.
  
  Question: What does this actually look like to have our homes patterned after the temple?
  
  I love Elder Bednar’s answer to this: https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-04-20/covid-19-elder-bednar-temples-kingdom-god-move-forward-181733
  
  Quoting Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Bednar said as Latter-day Saints “pass through our holy temples,” they must also “let the holy temples pass through them.”
   

“In a season when we have temporarily suspended temple operations, it is a choice opportunity to invite the covenants and ordinances to pass through us,” the apostle said. “The lessons learned in our previous temple experiences are not recalled only when we are in the temple.” Those teachings “are in our minds, hopefully in our hearts. And we can have access to those learnings and those memories anytime.”
 

Elder Bednar continues… “Often members petition the Lord in prayer in the temple.” “That is a powerful experience,” he said...“But the Lord is aware of our circumstances and our situations. And He will not give any less credence to an earnest sincere prayer offered in a family room or kneeling at the side of a bed for this period of time. He will look on us with great mercy and great compassion.”
 

For me: This confirms our ability to receive revelation both in and outside of the temple. Having a temple home to me includes praying/asking/petitioning and pondering my needs and desires in my home. The Lord will answer me in my home or in the temple. This is a pattern of allowing “the holy temple to pass through me.”
 

This is both powerful and empowering to know the blessing of the temple are always with us and we do not have to physically be in the temple to receive answers to difficult questions.
 

• Similar to the ongoing process of renovating the Salt Lake Temple, individuals can benefit from periodic self-assessments and asking the Lord, “What lack I yet?”

 

For many people, this time of isolation has brought an unwelcomed “self-assessment.” They have been forced to look at what is not going well in their life and forced to change.
 

“What lack I yet” for me can feel like I must be perfect. I am not good enough no matter how hard I try, there is always something I lack in. I do not think that is what it means nor how Elder Clayton is stating it. But some of us, like me, were raised in a home where we were taught that we “need to be perfect” to be worthy of heavenly blessings.
 

On the flip side of feeling we will never measure up, we can choose to raise our level of self- awareness of who we are, and ask the Lord: 

is there more for me and if so, what is holding me back?
 

What do I need to do to strengthen who I am so I can live up to the expectations and covenants I made in the preexistence?
 

What do I need to ‘let go’ of in my life to allow me to draw closer to you Lord?
 

• The finest homes offer a refuge from the storms of mortality. “The Lord has promised that those who keep the commandments of God ‘prosper in the land.’ God’s prosperity is the power to press forward despite the problems of life.”

 

Sisters, no matter the change going on in our lives, it will always benefit us in some way. The Lord is aware of what is happening to you, when one door closes another will open.
 

What can you do today to bring the patterns of the temple into your home, into your life, to allow you to draw closer to the Lord and hear his answers to your questions and thoughts?
 

This is my prayer for you, that you will feel the presence of the Lord in your home, and to be able to strengthen your relationship with Him no matter what your home life is like.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Love you, Lisa Thomas