Went to the Jordan River temple late yesterday morning. Over the course of the session, and my time there, I had the opportunity to see true charity in action multiple times, as well as patient and cheerful endurance.
First was during the session I was in, where a severely disabled man was wheeled into the session by his family members. What I'm assuming were his brother and son-in-law tenderly dressed him in his temple clothing (he was unable to do this for himself) and watched over him throughout the session, and his wife even went over to him one time to shift him in his chair, and caress him. His comfort was their primary concern.
At the end of the session, as I was about to pass through into the celestial room, the veil worker who was assisting me had severely malformed hands. Some of his fingers were fused together, and then forked at the top. They were more like claws than hands. Yet there he was serving in the temple, and doing it cheerfully. He had a glorious smile on his face.
Later, as I was in the locker room, getting dressed back into my normal clothes, I could hear a loud commotion, almost like someone was in great despair. As I left my locker and rounded the corner, I could see it wasn't despair, but a severely disabled woman in a wheelchair, who couldn't speak, but was so happy to be in the temple, that it practically overcame her. One of the temple workers hugged her, and kissed her, and let her know she was so happy to see her there. She then did the same to the woman's caregiver.
I myself really struggle with having charity, and I doubt that I would be as caring or as cheerful if I were in similar circumstances. Especially as I"ve been pondering this week about what it means to "let my light shine", these were all such great examples to me of what it really means to have "pure religion", to understand "the worth of a soul", and to go "unto the least of these". It's what I needed to learn yesterday.
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