Where else but in the LDS church would you find a group of ten people willing to take time off from work to drive an hour and a half to dust and vacuum rooms that were already clean??

Today my husband and I joined a group of others  to go fulfill our ward's temple cleaning assignment.  Normally we plan temple trips for evening sessions after work or else go on the weekends.  But the temple cleaning must be done at a very specific time to ensure the least disruption in the ordinance session schedule.  So this meant both of us (along with a few others in the group) were burning up precious vacation days to do this.

I believe in temple service.  I believe ALL work that goes into maintaining the temples is sacred.  Maybe we did not get any specific person's ordinances done this afternoon.  But what we did helped preserve the spirit-welcoming environment that allows that work to continue.

HOWEVER...  it was really pretty darn clean when we started.  The temples are on a very stringent cleaning schedule.  They get a total wipe down every single day they operate.  They get a truly thorough cleaning 2 times every week.  I was on vacuum duty.  I saw a couple dust bunnies in the changing rooms and a little bit of paper scattered next to the shredding machines in the admin offices.  But other than that, I was vacuuming floors that looked totally pristine.  The sisters who were on dust cloth duty reported hardly a dark spot anywhere showed up on their cloths.   Granted, we don't want to wait on cleaning until our temples get truly DIRTY, but a couple of our team members did speculate whether it was a wise use of time and resources to have all these members coming so far to clean when it didn't look like the place needed it at all.   Wouldn't it have been better to have us doing ordinance work instead?

I would say no.  Whether or not the rooms of the temple substantially benefitted from our efforts may be dubious, but there is no question in my mind that my testimony of temple work and of the gospel overall was stregthened by the time I spent there.  And I think that has value.  YES, ordinance work is important.  But by the very fact that I took the time to clean this temple, I now have more of a sense of commitment and stewardship for it.  I will treat and think about it differently than if I just continued to show up with it always looking gorgeous and never giving any thought to what keeps it that way.

Furthermore, it gave me an opportunity to think about how "clean" I keep my own home, and even more importantly, how  "clean" I keep my LIFE.  Do I wait till problem areas get grungy and then work hard to clean them up, or am I willing to do the constant maintenance of prayer, scripture study, pondering, obedience and service that KEEPS me up to par?  Do I ward off sin with the same scrupulous diligence our members use to ward of any sign of dust or grime?  If not, why not? 

I am ever so grateful for the temples.  I well remember the old days when my nearest temple was over 8 hours away.  God bless the inspiration of Gordon B. Hinkley that has brought so many temples closer to the members so that their saving ordinances can be part of our regular routine rather than something that happens only a handful of times.

What makes a temple a temple is NOT the fancy furnishings, it is NOT the chandeliers, it is NOT the marble walls.  A House of the Lord is designated as such by  the faith, obedience, and sacrifice that are required to enter in and by the meaning we give to what we do within those walls.  Whether going to a Gothic marvel like the SLC temple, or entering one of the tiny gems like Columbia River temple in Washington State, the experience becomes sacred because we treat it differently than we do our chapels or other religious sites.  Part of that means keeping the temple spotless, to remind us all that "No unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven." (Alma 11:37)

To some, it may seem that what I did today was futile, wasted effort.  But to me, it was a blessing I won't soon forget.