On Temple Covenants

In a recent entry I referred to D&C 88:121, in which we are commanded to "cease from all [our] light speeches, from all laughter, from all [our] lustful desires, from all [our] pride and light-mindedness, and from all [our] wicked doings." Today I would like to revisit and expand on this idea.

I've spent a lot of time recently thinking about this commandment, especially in conjunction with temple covenants. I was fortunate over my recent break to be able to go to the temple several times, an experience that allowed me to really focus on temple worship and its role in my life.

Chief among my thoughts has been the series of covenants made during the endowment. And I see in them--both their content and the order of the covenants--a pattern for my life. In reviewing how well I keep each of those covenants I am better able to see both how far I have come as a member of the church, and where I need to improve.

For example, I have promised the Lord to live a certain way, to avoid a kind of boisterousness, to be reverent in my behavior toward sacred things. But I don't always do that, and I tend to be casual with regards to my spirituality. That, then, is a covenant that I need to work to keep more fully.

This is helpful to me as I ponder the other covenants I have made, especially to sacrifice. In particular, I feel that I need to make meaningful sacrifices of my time and interests for the good of my wife and children. The most important thing I can do for them, I believe, he most meaningful sacrifice I can make, is to be more virtuous in how I act, to invite the spirit into our home and lives more consistently and powerfully so that they will be aware of how the spirit can and will guide them throughout their lives.