HOLY PLACES

Moses at the burning bush was admonished to remove his shoes because the ground upon which he stood was Holy.

The Tabernacle and Temple in the days of Moses had a set apart room which was called the Holy Place.

Israel was designated to become a Holy Nation that they might worship the Lord on the Holy Mount.

Paul wrote to the Romans and told them that the Temple of God is holy and then added which Temple ye are.

Joseph Smith was told the disciples of the Lord are to stand in Holy Places and are not to be moved.

Joseph was also told that little children are Holy.

From the Bible Dictionary of the King James edition, published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we find the following words which are used to define Holy:

Things or places that are set apart for a sacred purpose.

A holy person was one who held a sacred office.

The Israelites were a holy people because they stood in a special relationship to Jehovah.

The word holy came to refer to moral character.

In the writings of the prophets it is clearly laid down that the value of worship in the eyes of God depends on the personal character of the worshiper.

My personal pondering on the meaning of Holy has brought me to believe:

It is our noble quest to seek out and find Holy Places.

It is our noble duty to stand on Holy ground
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It is our noble calling to help create Holy nations.

Noble quest to seek out and find Holy Places

I really had no idea and my preparation for what was about to happen to me had to have been scant and inadequate, but I will long remember the first time I was struck with the feeling that I was standing in a Holy Place. I was fifteen years and a couple of months old, when I took my first Temple trip with the youth from the Garden Grove Stake. Those who knew me would never have suspected that I could enjoy spiritual feelings and; therefore, out of embarrassment I was never able to share the feelings I had experienced when I entered the waters of baptism in the Mesa, Arizona Temple to be baptized in behalf of someone who hadn't had the opportunity while in mortality. I knew then and I still know today that on that day I stood in a Holy Place.

Another remembrance came many years later when Kathleen and I were blessed to take a tour of the Holy Lands with some of our Church Education colleagues. I was sitting on a large rock in a grove of trees just south of where the Jordon River leaves the Sea of Galilee and begins its journey to the Dead Sea. My timid-ness about sharing spiritual insights and feelings had long since become a thing of my lost youth, and I did and have since shared with many the overwhelming feeling I had sitting in that peaceful setting of being in a very Holy Place.

Many times our seeking is too forced and bears little fruit. Sometimes we lack the understanding of how we should be seeking, but we must understand that it is our Heavenly Father who is in charge of such sacred events, and in those moments when we may even be least expecting them, He will shower us with His Holy Spirit and we will know our search of a Holy Place has borne fruit.

Noble duty to stand on Holy ground

When walking had become difficult and staying alert was a task, my father would make his way to the St. George, Utah Temple four days a week to stand in proxy for someone in that Holy Place. He taught me that he had chosen that in those days of faltering he could do one thing very well and that was to stand in Holy Places.

When I was a very green missionary serving in Ciudad Valles, Mexico, my companion and I would, the first Sunday of each month take a bus ride to a small mountain village named Tancanuitz. There was a family who had returned there after working in Detroit, Michigan for some years and we would go and hold services with them. They held services without us on the other Sundays of the month. I was struck when we arrived at their humble home to find that there was a room which they had dedicated for and was only used for these Sunday meetings. I didn't have to be very observant to realize that this room which was never used by the family during the week for their daily activities, was by far the best room in their home. It was a Holy Place where on Sundays or any day of the week they could go and stand on Holy Ground.

I don't believe it is necessary to go to a Temple built by pioneer fathers or even to have a designated room where we can go to stand on Holy Ground, but I believe it is within the reach of each of us to make the ground upon which we stand Holy. I am grateful for the reminder which Kathleen often brings to me, as she prays, how grateful we are to be able to enjoy the peace which exists in our home and makes it a place of Holy Ground.

Noble calling to help create Holy nations

I will always be grateful for the privileges and opportunities which I have enjoyed in life which have made it a rather easy task to be daily involved in the processes which publish peace and remind us of the importance of living lives based on moral character. Besides the 55 years I was involved in teaching the gospel of the Lord on a daily basis, I was able to serve full time missions as a youth in Mexico and then with Kathleen in Colombia when we weren't all that young. I have also received callings in the church which have demanded my constant sharing of the word. I don't know if any have been affected by all these opportunities I have enjoyed, but I continue to have the hope that if I labor all the days of my life and bring save it be one soul… I will have joy.

With all the pluses my privileges have brought to my life, I hasten to remind myself and all others that the most important work we do in striving to create Holy Nations is within the walls of our homes. Nothing I do will be of more importance than creating a place of holiness for Kathleen, our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. I don't know what the count would be now, but when my grandfather Law was in his 90s back in the 1960s, he estimated his direct descendants to number more than 500. If he were to take a count now he would indeed be viewing a nation. He created a Nation and now whether we choose to stand in Holy Places and make the ground upon which we stand Holy and continue the increase of that Nation is not only part of our birthright, but also our purpose.

It is our noble quest to seek out and find Holy Places.

It is our noble duty to stand on Holy ground.

It is our noble calling to help create Holy nations.