Waters to Swim In

Yesterday I had the privilege with my family to attend the baptism of my coworker’s sister named Adrian.  It was a wonderful ceremony and the culmination of an incredible journey for her over the past year as she has changed her life and developed faith in the Savior.  We were all moved by her desire to follow the Lord and make this covenant with Him.  After the baptism took place, one of the sister missionaries sang the song Healing Water.  Part of the lyrics to the chorus are:

And like healing water on my skin

Rushing rivers crashing in

Like a child I’m born again

To start a brand new life

As I contemplated this song and thought of healing waters of baptism that we had just witnessed, the image of Ezekiel’s vision of the latter-day temple in Jerusalem filled my mind.  Ezekiel saw the waters rushing forth eastward from the temple and as he followed the servant, “the waters were to the ankles.”  Then as they continued to follow this water coming out of the temple “the waters were to the knees.”  Soon thereafter he found that “the waters were to the loins.”  Finally, as they continued following this water coming out of the temple, “it was a river that [he] could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in.”  Ezekiel had gradually been completely enveloped by these healing waters coming out of the temple.  Just like we are immersed in the waters of baptism, Ezekiel in his vision was immersed in these symbolic temple waters.    

               The servant gave Ezekiel this powerful description of the water rushing forth from the temple: “And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh” (Ezekiel 47:1-9).  As I pondered this image I thought of how Adrian’s next path of progression will be towards these sacred waters of the temple—literally and figuratively.  She will soon find herself being baptized for her ancestors in the temple, fully immersed in the healing waters of the temple.  And eventually as she continues on her spiritual journey she will again find herself being washed clean in the temple as she is washed, anointed, and endowed with power from on high.  And she, like all of us, can choose whether she enters this symbolic temple river to the level of her ankles, or to her knees, or to her loins, or whether, like Ezekiel, she will immerse herself fully in the covenants and blessings of the house of the Lord. 

            Recently we took a family trip to California, and as we were driving home to Utah, and on an unexpected route because of a change of plans, we were passing through Sacramento.  My six-year-old informed us that there was a temple in Sacramento—he knows them all—and we debated whether we wanted to have yet another delay in our journey and go out of our way to see it.  For me it turned out to be the most memorable stop on the two-day journey home.  It was a very hot day, and as we got out to view the magnificent building I couldn’t keep my children out of the fountain of water in front of the temple.  Despite my attempts to tell them that it was for looking and not for swimming, they couldn’t resist putting hands and feet into the refreshing water in the heat of the day.  For them, as for Ezekiel, these fountains which seemed to be coming out from the temple were indeed “waters to swim in.”  As I tried to teach them about being reverent on the temple grounds, perhaps they were really teaching me about how we should immerse ourselves in the work of the temple.