Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy

We finally had a storm that brought in some beautiful clouds and got rid of the smoke.  It only lasted a day, but it was a day filled with sunbeams from Heaven.  

The above picture is my view of the temple from my house.  I can't even tell you how excited I was when I realized that we would be able to see the temple through that peek between the houses.

This morning, the sunbeams were so beautiful.  When I drove my kids to school, I was wishing I had brought my camera and taken it to the temple to catch those glorious sunbeams with the temple.  But I had left my camera home, and I didn't have time to go that morning.  So I decided that I would find time that evening to go.  I didn't expect there to still be sunbeams, but I knew there would be beautiful clouds for the sunset, and I wanted to get a picture of the sun shining through the framework of the temple right before it set.  

  I was just a few minutes too late to get that shot of the sun shining directly through the temple, but what I did get, I believe was even better.  These sunbeams, shining all around the temple were just breathtaking.  The photo below is my favorite picture of our new temple so far.  These beautiful sunbeams symbolize hope to me.  After many days of smoke filled skies, we finally got a small break from the smoke, and it came with these sunbeams that seemed to shine right from the temple.  Our beautiful new temple isn't able to serve it's full purpose just yet, but it brings hope to all of us who are anxiously watching it be built.  

Brightly beams our Father's mercy from his lighthouse evermore,

But to us He gives the keeping of the lights along the shore.

Let the lower lights be burning; send a gleam across the wave.  

Some poor fainting, struggling, seaman, you may rescue, you may save.

Along with the beautiful skies and sunbeams that night, I discovered that there is stone beginning to go up on the side of the temple! 

Isn't it beautiful?

It was so fun to see the stone waiting on the truck beds to be installed.  So much potential!  It's going to be beautiful!
 

A Light in the Darkness

Life has been so different for all of us through the times we are living lately.  Sometimes the darkness seems so thick, we have to try extra hard to see the light.  I have been surprised at how long the skies here have been filled with smoke.  I don't remember a time in my life when it has been smoky like this for so long.  I feel like the pandemic and other things our world is going through right now feel a lot like this persistent smoke.   

I am a person who's cup is filled by being outside, enjoying the mountain views, the clouds in the sky, the everyday beauty all around us, and it has been so gloomy lately.  There is rarely a day that I can see the mountains or Utah lake, when I normally enjoy them everyday and almost take them for granted.  

I have found myself being excited when I can glimpse a real cloud and some blue sky against the mountains, instead of the smoke that blocks our view each day lately.  I know the mountains are still there, I know there are probably beautiful clouds, but I can't see them, and it makes me sad.  

I've found myself waiting to go see the temple for when I can have a pretty sky to photograph along with the temple.  But I have realized, that in my waiting, I have missed a few things that have gone up on the temple.  I've started to realized that there is hope and beauty that I have been missing by focusing on the smoke.

I went to the temple today and there is a steeple.  A steeple.  On our new temple. What a blessing! And it is beautiful.  

Not only is there a steeple, but even the smoke looked beautiful with the sun shining through it.

I think it's easy, when we are going through something hard, to focus on the smoke, or the trial we are going through.  There is always beauty and hope to be found, if we will just go out and look for it.  

I love that our new temple is such a symbol of hope of good days to come.  Someday it will be finished, and we will be able to go inside.  Oh how I have missed being inside the temple.  We will look back and see the light shining through the darkness, and realize that there was a different kind of beauty in the smoke we are living in right now.  

It is starting to look less like a construction site, and more like a parkinglot!

Curbs for the new parkinglot

Beauty through the smoke.