Although it was more than four decades ago when I received my endowment in the temple, I have never forgotten the impact it had on me. The endowment ordinance itself was a rich spiritual experience, but it was what happened afterward that left an indelible impression on me. As I was walking back to the locker room to change back to my street clothes, one of the temple workers asked me if I would be a witness for a sealing. Not knowing what that entailed and having been somewhat overwhelmed by the whole temple experience, I was a little taken aback. The temple worker lovingly sensed my hesitancy and assured me that there would be someone there to help me through it.
As I walked into the sealing room I knew I was in a very sacred place. Although I did not know the sealer, the family being sealed or any of the workers, I felt the most overwhelming love and joy I have ever felt in my life as I witnessed the sealing of a family. Since that day many years ago, I have had the chance to be sealed to my wife, witness the sealing of my children to their spouses, and witness the sealing of many other couples and families. Each time I have experienced a closeness to my Heavenly Father and incredible joy. In fact, I can’t think of a more joyous experience or one that brings me closer to my Heavenly Father.
Recently my wife and I participated in temple sealings by serving as proxies for deceased family members. As I sat in the sealing room I thought about my experiences with living sealings and wondered about those on the other side of the veil whose work is being done on this side. I can only imagine the joy they feel. I also pondered how the sealing ordinance brought them closer to Heavenly Father and opened the doors and windows to eternal life as families.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie shared the following about the temple sealing: “We are talking about creating a unit more important than the Church, more important than any organization that exists on earth or in heaven, a unit out of which exaltation and eternal life grow; and when we talk about eternal life, we are talking about the kind of life that God our Heavenly Father lives.”
When you recognize how important this ordinance is, how much love and joy comes from it, and the way it brings us all, both living and dead, closer to Heavenly Father, it would seem logical that we would be anxiously engaged in identify those needing the sealing ordinance and then rushing to the temple regularly and often to perform this saving ordinance. Add to that the charge of our dear prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, to gather Israel on both sides of the veil. In his devotional to the youth just one year ago he said the “gathering [of Israel] is the most important thing taking place on earth today. Nothing else compares in magnitude, nothing else compares in importance, nothing else compares in majesty.”
Finally, consider the fact that this is the Lord’s work and He will help us. As I write this article and consider this great work, I feel an overwhelming urgency to more fully engage in identifying those needing the sealing ordinance and then taking the time, on a regular basis, to participate as proxy in the sealing ordinance. I encourage you to join with me as we engage in this rich and rewarding saving experience. –David Castleton, Director, Granite Family History Center