President Monson, Sacrifice, and Temples

In three days it will be President Monson’s 90^th birthday, and he has been an apostle now for almost 54 years.  It’s hard to fathom how many people he has ministered to, how many blessings he has given, how many talks he has delivered, how many hospital visits he has made, how many lives he has changed.  A few months ago I was chatting with my neighbor, a non-practicing member of the Church, and I was impressed at how sincerely he praised President Monson.  His father had known the prophet many years ago, and my neighbor told how one time President Monson recognized him in a bank and took the time to sit down and talk with him.  He expressed to me his fervent conviction that President Monson doesn’t just give talks about service and love; he lives it.  When President Monson gave his first conference talk as an apostle, he said, “I pledge my life, all that I may have. I will strive to the utmost of my ability to be what you would want me to be. I am grateful for the words of Jesus Christ, our Savior, when He said: ‘I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him’ (Revelations 3:20).  I earnestly pray, my brothers and sisters, that my life might merit this promise from our Savior.”  Surely he has done that—giving up everything for the cause of Christ—and there’s no question that this promise from Revelation has been fulfilled for him many times over.

               Perhaps my favorite talk from President Monson is the one he gave on the temple six years ago.  This video captures the spirit of the talk, and I love this statement from the prophet: “Those who understand the eternal blessings which come from the temple know that no sacrifice is too great, no price too heavy, no struggle too difficult in order to receive those blessings. There are never too many miles to travel, too many obstacles to overcome, or too much discomfort to endure.”  He has lived according to these words as he has traveled the world himself dedicating temples—he has personally dedicated or rededicated 25 temples and his example of devotion to moving forward the work of temples is an example to follow for all of us.  He suggested that the sacrifice most of us need to make is “setting aside the time in your busy lives to visit the temple regularly.”  Most of us won’t need to work in the mines of New Caledonia for four years in order to make enough money to travel to the temple, but we do have to give up a few hours of time to serve in the house of the Lord.  We have to be careful of the “let me first” attitude that the Savior described of those who expressed the desire to follow Him.  When the Savior said to come then, one responded, “I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house” (Luke 9:61).  We all have “let me first” reasons to do something different than going to the temple—there will always be more things to do than we have time for.  We must make the decision to give up something for the temple, trusting in President Monson’s words that “no sacrifice is too great” for the temple.