“Sacred Place,” Tambuli, Sept. 1994, 12
Fiction:
Sacred Place
Sarah tried not to move as she stood on the footstool, waiting while her mother adjusted the hem of the long white dress. “How much longer?” she asked her mother.
Mother looked up from where she knelt on the floor and removed two pins from her mouth. “Another minute or so and I’ll have the hem done.”
“Why do we wear white clothes in the temple?” Sarah asked.
“The temple is a sacred place,” Mother said as she pushed the pins into the material. “And because it is, we wear white clothes when we are there.”
“I can’t wait until Saturday. Lori says she wishes she could go to the temple with her family, too.” Sarah looked thoughtful. “Why doesn’t Lori’s family get sealed in the temple?”
Mother smiled. “Lori’s parents were sealed in the temple when they were married, so Lori is already sealed to her parents. There, I’m finished.” Mother struggled to rise to her feet.
Sarah jumped down from the chair to help her mother, who was seven months pregnant and had trouble bending and standing. “How come you and Daddy didn’t get sealed in the temple when you were married?”
“Come over here, Sarah,” her mother said, patting the seat beside her on the sofa. “Remember last year when we took the missionary lessons?”
Sarah nodded. Shortly after they had finished the lessons, her parents had been baptized. She remembered the special feeling she had when she saw first her father and then her mother emerge from the water. Next year, when Sarah turned eight, her father would baptize her.
“Before we learned about the gospel, your father and I had never heard about temples or being sealed to each other. After we were baptized, we promised ourselves and you that we would go to the temple and be sealed to each other as soon as we could.”
“And that means our family can be together forever,” Sarah finished.
“That’s right.”
Sarah felt a gentle nudge as she cuddled closer to her mother. Her eyes widened. “The baby kicked me.”
Her mother laughed softly. “Babies sometimes do that.” Sarah’s lips curved into a smile as she thought about the baby. In two more months she would have a new brother or sister. Her parents had already started painting the extra bedroom a sunny yellow to turn it into a nursery. Her smile faltered as she realized that the baby wouldn’t be able to go to the temple with the family on Saturday. “Mom, we have to wait!”
“Wait for what, honey?”
“The baby. We can’t go to the temple without him.” But Sarah’s mother didn’t seem worried. “After your dad and I are sealed in the temple, any children we have will be sealed to us also. It’s called being born in the covenant.”
Sarah frowned as she tried to understand what her mother had said. “So our baby will be sealed to us on Saturday, even though he isn’t born yet?”
“That’s right.”
Sarah hugged her mother. “I love you. And I love Dad and our baby.”
Her mother returned the hug. “I love you, too.” As she stood up she added, “Come on. We have a dress to finish sewing.”
On Sunday morning, Sarah felt especially happy as she sat next to her parents in sacrament meeting. The congregation began singing the opening song. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she joined in. “I have a family here on earth. They are so good to me. I want to share my life with them through all eternity.”*
Illustrated by Roger Motzkus