The Meaning and the Reason

There have been a few select questions on my mind lately, most of which I won't divulge here, but one in particular that I will.

Saturday was my 19th birthday, and it was a day full of family and friends. I had the opportunity to attend the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house, which I was very happy about seeing as it was the last day to do so.

I went with two of my best friends and literally hundreds of others. As we walked through towards the first flight of stairs my mind went to one of those questions. What is eternity? This question has been itching my brain for a while, and I've spent many an hour puzzling over this (usually while I'm at work and should be doing something productive). But this question came to me and I looked towards the myriad of people and a little girl cried out, and it echoed through the entrance. This drew me out of my reverie only to take a better look at the entire room filled to capacity with people from every walk of life, but what caught my attention most were the children.

And it clicked.

There was eternity. With each child born there comes the hope of moving forward. It seemed to me that there was an abundance of small children populating that particular session of the open house, and every one look more precious that any one thing the world could hold. There was eternity.

The realization of what eternity means to me (because by no means is this any sort of text book definition, just the ramblings of a teenager) was reaffirmed later that night.

My grandmother celebrated her 81st birthday in June and she came by to wish one of her dozen or so granddaughters a happy birthday. As she sat and visited with me and my family, she told us about the surprise visit she received from her oldest son (my dad's brother). she told us that each one of his children brought their own little family and how they had ten small children running around their yard. She laughed and said she couldn't quite believe it- Ten great grandchildren, and that was just from one of her three sons, not even to mention her two daughters, and it hit me again. There was eternity. It shone in the hope of a young child, and in the love of this beautifully aged woman.

So I guess eternity to me is family, and never seeing the end of that family. To me eternity is the young and the old and the journey it takes to get there.

The meaning is family, and the reason is Christ.

Needless to say I cannot wait until I have ten great grandchildren from just one child, therein lies eternity for me.