My husband and I walk into the temple wearing street clothes, hoping to do some temple work. I feel self-conscious with no appointment and no dress clothes, but we’re welcomed in with open arms despite our lack of preparation.
At the clothing desk, we’re greeted by two smiling women. They help us print off family names, and one of them, upon seeing our last name, remarks, “Horspool!” and says she knew someone with the same last name.
“We used to smoke outside the church together,” she says. “He was a great guy.”
This unexpected comment fills my soul with warmth. I don’t know this woman’s journey, nor that of the Horspool she knew. But I do know, whatever her story, that she is now serving the Lord in the temple.
It’s a poignant reminder that Heavenly Father doesn’t care where we’ve been, just which direction we’re going. At this moment, this woman is facing Jesus Christ and helping others do the same as she serves in the temple.
Lift Up Thine Eyes
This experience brings to mind one of my favorite paintings, a piece by Norman Rockwell.
The scene depicts New Yorkers hurrying past St. Thomas Church on 5th Avenue with downcast eyes. Above them, between chapel doors, a man posts the message, “Lift up thine eyes,” echoing the words in Isaiah 49:18.
In a striking example of visual irony, no one is looking at the message.
How often do we do the same thing spiritually? The Lord has said, “Look to God and live” (Alma 37:47). Yet life’s distractions weigh our gaze ever downward.
Hebrews 12:1–2 contains a beautiful call to action to lift our eyes:
“Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.”
To let go of the things that hold us back from walking with Christ, first, we must look toward Christ. It’s only then that we will be given the strength to “run with patience the race that is set before us.”
I think of my own “lift up thine eyes” experience, also in New York City. While serving as a missionary, I was hurrying through a subway station when something above me caught my eye. A message, “UPWARD, ONWARD, GODWARD,” was scrawled in bright pink above me. My pace immediately slowed as I remembered the reason I was a missionary and the reason I’m here on earth.
I am meant to move toward Christ—and point others toward Him as well. It is so easy to get caught up in our everyday worries, forgetting to truly see the people around us or remember the Savior. But as the hymn “Before Thee, Lord, I Bow My Head” beautifully expresses, we can live with more love as we remember to look up:
“Look up, my soul; be not cast down.
Keep not thine eyes upon the ground.
Break off the shackles of the earth.
Receive, my soul, the spirit’s birth.
And now as I go forth again
To mingle with my fellowmen
Stay thou nearby, my steps to guide,
That I may in thy love abide.”
When we look toward Christ, we move heavenward in our daily actions and thoughts. And as the woman at the temple clothing desk reminded me, we can support each other on this journey.
When we “keep not [our] eyes upon the ground,” and choose to “mingle with [our] fellowmen,” we can all draw closer to Him—no matter our story.
More articles for you:
▶ Dwelling on the past? Here’s the key to moving forward
▶ How my son’s brain injury brought our family closer to Christ
▶ What happened when I wore jeans and sneakers to the temple
