I remember a story about a temple being built.. and during the night vandalists had snuck into that holy temple and vandalized the walls with gruesome graffiti. The prophet, upon seeing the horrific vandalism, instructed that it was to be removed and taken care of... Well painters came in and repainted the wall covering the graffiti. By the time they were done you would never have known that the walls had once been covered in filth. The prophet came back in to inspect the work and looked at the wall which now seemed white and perfect... but kindly the prophet asked if the graffiti had been removed or simply covered. When they told him it had just been painted over he asked if they would take a sander, grind down the walls and remove the filthy words before painting the wall again.
There was also a story about the building of a temple where the pioneers were asked to give there all and sacrifice their best to the building of this temple. There was many pioneer woman who had inherited very fine and precious china, some had gold designs and beautiful, precious markings. These woman took their most prized possession to the temple and unwrapped their precious china from the cloth they so carefully stored them in. Giving up their beautiful dishes they went home to care for their families. The china was carefully ground up and mixed into the cement for the bricks. Later the woman went back to the finished temple and notice the beautiful glow that sparkled around the outside of the glorious building, but up close they notice that the sparkle and shimmer the gleamed around the temple came from none other than pieces of their beautiful possessions, now there for all to see.
I love these stories and sometimes compare them to myself.
Am I giving my best when I am building myself?
I am not a perfect person... of this I am sure. But how many times have I, like the painters, took the walls vandalized with my sins, and simply covered them up rather than removing the sins altogether? I, without my Savior can simply only cover them up. I can not remove them, I can only cover them up and hide them away.
And second, am I giving my best to the Lord?
When Christ came to earth He gave us the greatest sacrifice... He died for me. He died for you. He died because He loves us and wants us to return to our Father in Heaven. He gave us the most precious gift that we could not give to ourselves. He sacrificed His life and for that I am eternally grateful. So... why is it so hard for me to sacrifice my best to give to Him. Like the pioneer woman, I have very precious and beautiful gifts... and I hope that I can be like them and be able to give them unto the Lord.
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