A Beautiful House

A Beautiful House

Scott and I took Anne Wilkinson with us Saturday March 22nd to the Draper Temple dedication that was held in the Draper temple. We arrived at one of the nearby chapels to be bussed up to the temple. As our bus wound up the mountain between numerous large and luxurious homes, several of us noticed that at one of the homes an angry looking woman stood on her balcony in a defiant pose with her arms held high giving the finger with both hands to all the passing busses. I couldn’t help wondering what had made her so angry. Was it the inconvenience of all the traffic caused by the dedication? Was she angry because of Proposition 8? Was she just a Mormon hater? Did she believe in Jesus Christ and if she did, why was she filled with such animosity?
As I sat on that bus, amazed at the hate of that woman, an image of the “Tall and spacious building” from Lehi’s dream came to mind.
“And great was the multitude that did enter into that strange building. And after they did enter into that building they did point the finger of scorn at me and those that were partaking of the fruit also; and we heeded them not.” —1Nephi 8:33
As we entered the temple that day, and felt the peace and beauty there, I felt so thankful for this beautiful new “House of the Lord”. Scott and I had previously had the opportunity of bearing our testimony in one of the sealing rooms during the temple open house. For five hours we bore our testimony of the gospel and felt the power and light of the temple. It is truly the “House of the Lord” and we felt His presence there.

The snow sparkles when the sun shines on it

The snow sparkles when the sun shines on it.

The other day Amy called to tell me I’d had a small influence on Zack. A newly fallen snow had just covered the earth and she suddenly heard Zack yelling, “Mom! Mom! Grandma was telling the truth! The snow does sparkle when the sun shines on it!!
We’d just spent Christmas with Amy’s family and it had snowed a lot. Everyone seemed so upset by all the snow. I told Zack that the snow can be really beautiful and that it sparkles when the sun shines on it. Somewhere that thought was stored away in his little boy brain and he was looking for the sparkle and on that day, he found it.
Last month Scott shared with me some interesting facts he’d learned about the chandeliers in the new Draper temple. The designer for the temple lives in our stake and her husband, who is on the High Counsel with Scott, shared some enlightening information about chandeliers. When I heard what he had to say, I thought about Zack and how the snow sparkles when the sun shines on it. Here’s what I learned.
The creation of a chandelier is an elaborate and very intricate process. The inside base is made from Copper, Brass or Iron. The frame has hundreds of tiny holes—because most of the crystals are placed
individually by a little hook that attaches to the hole. Some of the crystals are already in a ring that goes around the base. Part of the challenge is making sure you’re placing the right sized crystal in the right location because the sizes typically are supposed to alternate larger, smaller, larger, smaller to create the design and the lighting/prism effect.
It takes 4 or 5 people about 3 or 4 hours to do one this size for a sealing room. The much larger Celestial room chandelier takes that many or more people a couple of days. Each Crystal itself is unique, regardless of size, in that because of the way it is formed and where it is placed on the chandelier it reflects light and even colors can be seen as in a rainbow. Another interesting fact is how the crystal is made. A crystal is an amalgamation of lead and glass. The glass used to make crystals is made from fine sand. The sand is heated to a very high temperature until it melts and can be formed into the needed shape and allowed to cool. Lead has to be mixed in with the sand to come up with a crystal piece. The right proportions of these substances have to be well calculated so imperfections can be avoided.
When Pres. Hinckley was asked by a certain dignitary, what meaning is to attach to having these beautiful chandeliers in the Temple sealing rooms and Celestial room, he said simply…to give off light!
There is an obvious metaphor here. A prism only becomes beautiful when it reflects light. In darkness a prism is nothing to look at. We, like these prisms, only reach our potential when the light of Christ shines through us.
“The Lord said, “Trust me, learn of me, do what I do…If you follow me, I will lead you out of darkness”
One prism is beautiful but many prisms together, reflecting the light off of each other is extraordinary. We also can become extraordinary when we are carefully placed by the Lord to reflect his light to each other. Every crystal is part of and contributes to the whole just as we are, when we take upon us the name of Christ and become part of His church.
Each prism must go through a refiners fire just as we must go through a refiners fire to know of a surety that they have a loving Heavenly Father and that the Atonement is available to all.
I love the temple because it is filled with light. Not only the light from these beautiful chandeliers, but it is filled with the light and truth of Christ and when the Son shines on us, we truly do sparkle.

Here's Keith's latest.

Dr. Robert John Williams

I had to delete and re-upload this post for technical, search engine reasons...

(June 13th) Dad and I just got back from a great trip to Irvine. The first day Dad took a deposition in LA while I played cars with Harry. I'm always "Sister car" (A red, white and blue emergency vehicle) and Harry is always "Brother car" (A cool race car with fire painted on the tops and sides). Every time I come to visit, Harry gives me the same car and, of course, he is always the same cool racecar. I could easily pick those two cars out of the hundreds of cars in their car box. This sort of identity happens only after hours of playing with the same cars.
The next day we surprised Miles at school and made our long promised trip to "Lego Land". We didn't dare talk about it till we were well on our way as all of our other attempts have been foiled. Harry felt a little sick but not enough to back out. I made one critical error. I didn’t consider my audience. We should have started on the kiddy side first as this is what they enjoyed the most. Unfortunately the park closed early (5:00 p.m.) because it wasn’t summer season yet. (6 more days). I felt bad because the kids were just starting to enjoy themselves. Harry did get a chance to drive a Lego car all by himself. He was very serious about it and never took his eyes off the road. On his third time around, with out looking up, he yelled out, “I’m winning!” That was the best part of Lego land for me. We told Miles and Harry they could choose a toy and it was a bit stressful for Miles. To many choices I guess. Miles asked if he could call Isaac and ask him which toy he bought last summer at Lego Land. Decisions! Decisions!
On Saturday, June 7th we went to John’s graduation and saw him be “hooded”. The Lady announcing who each graduate would be “hooded” by, kept slipping up and saying “beheaded ” Miles asked me what beheaded means and, unfortunately, I told him the unvarnished truth. He seemed a bit shocked so I quickly added that nobody does that anymore. Dad and I are very proud of John. What a great accomplishment. Congratulations Dr. Williams!!!

October 9, 2008

Dad and I recently watched the “John Adams” series on television and recommend it to all. Kath and Alex gave us the DVDs and we’re watching it a second time. Because Dad’s read David McCulluogh’s book on John Adams he elaborated on his life as we watched. I love this quote from a letter Abigail Adams wrote to her son after a difficult and perilous journey with his father to Paris.

“These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.”

Courage is More Exhilarating

Dad and I just got back from a trip to New York. Dad got the courage to drive through the taxi maze of New York City and we escaped to Hyde Park to see Roosevelt’s home and presidential library.
Roosevelt never wanted for anything in his younger years. He grew up an only child of wealthy parents with every opportunity for education and success. He married Eleanor and had five children and was heading toward a successful career in politics when, one day, after he’d spent a weekend visiting a boy’s camp, he was exposed to polio. He came home from the camp not feeling well so he walked up the stairs to his bedroom to rest and never walked on his own again.
When he woke up the next morning he was unable to move anything from his neck down. His mother gave up on him and expected that he would live his life as an invalid but Eleanor wouldn’t hear of it. She pushed him to exercise and encouraged him to keep living.
After a lot of encouragement from Eleanor, he was able to sit up and after a time could use his arms and hands. He never felt sorry for himself and didn’t want anyone else to. He refused to talk about his disabilities and instead would make a joke that put those around him at ease. Every day he would have someone push him to the drive in front of his estate and would try to walk to the end. He could only go a short distance before he’d fall on his face and then he’d get up and try again, and would go a little further, fall on his face and then try again and again until he reached the mailbox at the end of his driveway. He did this day after day until he could walk with help.
He and Eleanor had a lot of hardships in their life and made some mistakes but I felt inspired by the fight and courage of Franklin and Eleanor.
Eleanor said, “Courage is more exhilarating that fear and in the long run it’s a lot easier. We don’t have to become heroes overnight.”

“We are troubled on every side,
yet not distressed;
we are perplexed,but not in despair;
Persecuted,
but not forsaken;
cast down, but not destroyed.
For God,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
hath shined in our hearts,
to give the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ.”

— 2 Corinthians 4:6-9