Chocolate Mountains - Moab Utah

I now know why the mountains in Arches National Monument are so appealing to me.  They look like giant mounds of chocolate!

Balancing Rock

We only had an hour to drive into the park, before returning home.  It only wetted our appetite to return and spend some real time hiking and exploring this beautiful place.  Of all the national parks, this one is my favorite.

The famous delicate arch is found here, which we did not have time to see, among other amazing earth formations.  There is a special feeling in this place.

Monticello Utah Temple - Growth

Leaving Denver, we traveled seven hours through some of the world's most awesome creations, and finally arrived at the Monticello Temple.  Monticello is located just an hour south of Moab Utah, one of the most visited sites of outdoor enthusiasts.   The red mountains reminded me of a question one of our sons asked, many years ago, while driving to a dinosaur bone quarry near Vernal, "Is that dinosaur blood?"

The Monticello Temple was the first of all the small temples built.  However, within a very short time they realized it was too small to accomodate all those who wanted to attend, and it was expanded.  I have heard many times, that the greatest challenge the church faces is accommodating for it's growth.  That's a good problem to have.

The warmth inside the temple was a welcome reprieve from the desert cold.  At the end of our visit, we lingered in the Celestial Room with our son, and quietly discussed questions and impressions.  I realize that even after these many years, I have everything to learn.  I feel like an infant, struggling to take my first steps.

As we prepared to leave, one of the temple presidency took a moment to visit with our son.  He soon discovered that our son knew his grandson, and they had sung in a high school choir together, a few years ago and many miles away.  As I often say, "You just have to be nice to everyone!  You never know if you might be related, or acquainted somehow."

Denver Colorado Temple - Personal Gift

When I entered the Denver temple, I was greeted  by a temple worker, who checked my recommend card, verifying my worthiness to enter.  I noticed the extra care he took to kindly look me in the eye and welcome me.  Later, as I moved from the chapel, into the endowment room, another temple worker greeted me, looked me in the eye and shook my hand.  I felt their individual gratitude and appreciation that I had come.

One of the greatest mysteries to me, is how the Lord knows and loves each of us completely and personally.  It is more than my little brain can comprehend.  Yet, I have felt again and again, his personal attention to my concerns and my individual struggles.  I simply accept in faith, the power he has, to understand and love me, and that somehow I matter in the vastness of all his creations.  I accept that somehow, through the power of the atonement, he paid the price for all my sins.  Someone once taught, that even if I were the only person who had ever been born, Christ would have offered his life for me.

How can I possibly find a gift worth giving him in return?  I, who am a poor gift giver, have a lot to consider.

Christmas in Denver

We had only one hitch in our visit to Denver for Christmas, and that was, we took an additional gift of the flu.  So, the first two days we slept, visited and mopped up after one another.  Actually, I was one of few who didn't get sick, and I dodged some of the most unpleasant jobs in an effort to minimize my exposure.


By Christmas Eve, most were feeling well enough to enjoy a reenactment of the Christmas story, using darling hand puppets.  Our daughter read from the scriptures, while her husband and the three children crouched behind a blanket covered board, and held up Mary, Joseph, Shepherds and Angels, to the smiles of us all.   When they ran short on hands, our son-in-law's quick thinking saved the day, and his foot appeared holding the donkey.

Traditionally, my daughter sings a song to the children when she tucks them in bed.  This night, she asked us to join her in a tender rendition of Silent Night.

Vernal Utah Temple - Sacred vs Secret

For Christmas, our youngest son, traveled with my husband and I to Denver, to visit our daughter and her young family.  As part of the journey, we discussed attending three temples, the Vernal, Denver and Monticello.

The Vernal Temple is unique among all other temples.  This building was once used as a Tabernacle, where Stake Conference and other general meetings were held, and anyone could attend.  Now that the building has been remodeled and dedicated as a temple, only church members worthy of a temple recommend can enter.  Some people might question why everyone is not allowed inside a temple, once it is dedicated.  The ultimate goal is that everyone would eventually desire to enter the temple, to make additional, sacred covenants with God.  However, it is important to be prepared to make these sacred promises, in order to understand them and because we are held accountable for them.

Similar preparation happens before someone is baptized into the church.  They meet with missionaries, who teach them how to have faith, to repent, and prepare themselves to take upon them the name of Christ, and serve him.   And just like we wait for a young child to reach an age of maturity, knowledge and experience before being allowed to drive a car, so each individual grows and prepares themselves to understand and be willing to accept the consequences of their choices when making spiritual covenants.

So, the purpose of the temple is not to withhold or deny anyone the opportunity to enter, but instead it is an invitation for someone to prepare themselves to receive greater power and understanding about God.  The temple is for individual members of the church who have shown their desires by honoring their baptismal covenants and who seek to receive even greater blessings.

At the conclusion of the session we attended, I was delighted to recognize the wife of a former bishop, serving there.  Her and her husband moved to Vernal many years ago.  We visited for several minutes, and I was reminded what a small world we live in, and continue to cross paths with people again and again.

My husband mentioned how subtile the symbols and decorations were, within the temple.  He said it had a similar beauty as that of the desert, for those with eyes to see.

Guard Him, Joseph

Still lingering around my piano, is the vision and echo of family members quietly singing, "Guard Him, Joseph", a beautiful Christmas duet written by Sally DeFord.  I hear soft guitar and the words of "Away in a Manger", while the young twirl and play; and on the kitchen table rest homemade snow globes, a pot of chicken soup and family Christmas memories.

http://www.defordmusic.com/

Oh Come - Poem

Oh Come –

Oh Come, Sabbath Day

    A rest, a reprieve from worldly woe

I answer my true Master’s call

    And unto Him I go

Escaping worldly madness

    And pursuit of mighty dollar’s goal

Saving elements more precious

    --My Soul

Oh Come, Sabbath Day

    Where I remember the bidding

Of him who gave me life

    And saves me from my desperate sinning

He cleanses my heart

    Of all unrighteous desire

And causes my hands to perform

    Only that, that’s required

Oh Come, Sabbath Day

    I long for thy peace

Where intense hunger is satisfied

    In a personal spiritual feast

I am filled to overflowing

    Restored and renewed once again

Remembering my purpose

    And into whose arms I came

Janice Harten

April 23, 2001
Copyright © 2011 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.

Quiet Dawn - Poem

Quiet Dawn -

Quiet dawn contemplation

Whispering shadow of inspiration

Dream transition to

Life's decision

Janice Harten

Sept 4, 2010

Anonymous Service

Last Sunday, our Bishop encouraged each member of the ward, to offer anonymous service to at least one other person.  A couple of years ago he suggested we serve someone who lives within five houses of our own homes.  I have been thinking a lot about this.  Although I try to serve, rarely is it done completely anonymously.  But, what could be better than this, in keeping with the Christmas spirit?  Even writing this, has perhaps compromised and diluted the gift I might have otherwise given and received.

Purpose - Poem

     Purpose

What is my purpose?  A mother said,

   As from a worn book, to her child, she read,

Each task repeated from the day before,

   Cook, wash, clean and iron, then vacuum the floor.

What is my purpose?  A mother said,

   As she listened, comforted and tucked into bed,

Repeating, “I love you”, for the hundredth time,

   “Good night, Sleep tight,” echoed the rhyme.

What is my purpose?  She humbly knelt,

   Warming, sweet comfort, she tenderly felt,

As God listened, comforted and tucked into bed,

   “Good night, Sleep tight.  I love you,” He said.

                     Janice Harten
        Copyright © 2011 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.

Amazing Grace

Staying with my oldest daughter and her young family for a week, while she recovers from an injured back, has been memorable.  I appreciate her and my son-in-law's tolerance of my urges to straighten, clean and wash everything in sight.  Maybe I'm trying to make up for all the years when I was raising our five young children.  A couple of evenings we've stayed up late talking about one topic after another, like we were starving for someone to listen.  It's an insatiable appetite that never seems to be filled.

I study the family's schedule and careful choreography, as the needs of their son, with autism, are met.  I am learning to see people through different eyes and with a different heart.  I hear my daughter's two little girls giggling as they climb on the bed beside their mother, trying to brush her hair and be close.  She giggles and laughs with them.

Beyond her sliding glass door, I see children's small boot prints criss cross through several inches of freshly fallen snow.  Squirrels skitter along the branches of the trees.  In the field behind her house, flocks of geese soar and land again and again.  Their muffled honking complements the delicate ring of the chimes hanging on her back porch, to the tune of Amazing Grace.