A Walk on Temple Square

That morning I had been depressed and dissatisfied with the direction my life was taking. Problems that should have seemed minor suddenly seemed more than I could bear, and life’s injustices seemed directly aimed at me. When I had almost reached the point of giving up, I was told by a still small voice that I would be able to find peace and solace on the Salt Lake Temple grounds.

I parked my car at one of the many meters that surround Temple Square and entered the gates. A guide announced that a tour was starting at the Seagull Monument. Attaching myself to a small group of tourists, I walked over to the monument, suddenly anxious to hear the tour which I hadn’t heard since I was a child.

As the guide, a missionary from Idaho, introduced himself and his purpose in being there, I felt the tight knot inside of my chest begin to relax. I listened as the beautiful story of the seagulls and the crickets began to unfold, and a quiet peace filled my soul. While I was hearing about granite being hauled the many miles from Little Cottonwood Canyon to build the temple, my spirit began to soar, and as we listened to a tape of the Tabernacle Choir singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” I realized that my transformation was nearly complete.

Tears came as the joy of knowing who I was flooded my heart. I realized anew that I was a product of those wonderful pioneers who had transformed a desert into this beautiful valley. The challenges facing me were minute compared to the problems that had beset my ancestors. Hunger, disease, government intervention, and loneliness could have destroyed them; yet their faith in God and their love for the freedom which the Salt Lake Valley represented to them sustained them through the bad times. I remembered, once again, that because of the sacrifices my pioneer ancestors had made, and because their faith had been handed down through the generations to me, I, too, could handle the tribulations of my life.

As I drove homeward that day, I wondered what I had been so upset about. With a wonderful husband, four beautiful children, and a strong testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel, I realized that I have everything. Annette Larsen Proulx, Riverton, Utah

Photography by Jed A. Clark