Decisions, Decisions

I recently (two days ago) had to decide whether or not to keep an assignment as a Temple Worker or pull out and go with my wife and daughter to a dance competition.  After deciding to go (it is probably the last one in Vicki's life that I can go to; the next one I will be in Arizona instead), I decided that I had made the wrong decision on Friday night.  I felt it was like deciding not to pay tithing "just this once." (...a never, never!)  But than after the experience, I felt differently.  I was so needed because we had the baby, Vicki and Sandra had many responsibilities, plus Vicki was trying to fit in time to study for a Micro-Biology test!  I had time to take the baby and visit a Lancaster school district that was where I got my first teaching position out of college.  It was a very spiritual experience.  I saw a huge, new, as-yet-to-be-occupied Stake Center of the Church in my School District there.  It has taken forty to forty five years for the Branch in Lancaster (on King St.) to grow to three wards!  The building was all completed except for the landscaping.  When I considered what would have been life in Lancaster vs. Philadelphia, I was totally thankful to the Lord for the difficulties and challenges of the big city and how it helped to mold me and my family.  I was also thankful for Sandra and her huge part in what has made up our lives. I was also struck immediately with the thought of "if I were in Lancaster, I would be thinking, 'Philly is getting a Temple!!'" The Lord placed me where there was going to be a Temple!

 Back to the original thought: do I think for one minute that I would not have had a spiritual experience in the Temple.  And what will it be like for everyone when Sandra and I are gone?  They will be fine!  The Lord will see to that if they (you all) make the right decisions.  I am constantly struck by how much we are engaged in Telestial Things every day; and how little we are engaged in Celestial Things.  How we need to change that!