Sacred Home

Note: the majority of this meditation is adapted from Elder Stevenson's April 2009 General Conference address. See notes for a link to the address.

Close your eyes and bring your attention to your body. Let go of any tension you are holding in your face, jaw, head, neck, shoulders, upper arms, forearms, hands, fingers, chest, stomach, hips, seat, thighs, calves, feet, and toes. Lean your torso slightly from front to back and side to side until you rest into a comfortable posture where you feel centered, balanced, and relaxed.

Now bring your attention to your breath. Inhale deeply, hold for two seconds, now breathe out all the tension, stress, or negativity you might be feeling. One more time. Breathe in deeply, hold, exhale slowly all the way.

As your breathing returns to normal, imagine you are standing outside your home.

The Bible Dictionary tells us that “Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness.”[1] Really internalize this by picturing your home and viewing it as holy as a temple. Notice, without judgment, any thoughts or feelings that this brings to mind.

Keeping in mind the comparison between your home and the temple, let’s take a tour of your home: [2]

Imagine that you are opening your front door and walking inside. What do you see? How do you feel? Is it a place of love, peace, and refuge from the world, as is the temple?
Explore the main living areas of the home. Are they clean and orderly enough to not distract from feelings of love, peace, and refuge?
Is your gathering area or kitchen a place where food is prepared and enjoyed together, allowing uplifting conversation and family time?
As you walk through each room, do you see uplifting images, including appropriate pictures of the temple and the Savior?
Is your bedroom or sleeping area a place for personal prayer?
Are scriptures found in a room where the family can study, pray, and learn together?
Can you find your personal gospel study space?
Does the music you hear or the entertainment you see, online or otherwise, offend the Spirit?
Speaking of entertainment, are you protecting children from pornography and other harmful influences?
Is the conversation uplifting and without contention?
Does your home feel different—more like an actual temple perhaps—on Sundays?

Make a mental note of any thoughts, ideas, or promptings that have come to your mind while you’ve been pondering the sacredness of your home. If you are feeling inadequate or overwhelmed, take a deep breath, and pick just one or two specific things you can do or work on for now. Remember that the Lord loves effort.[3]

Elder Stevenson has advised us to “consider together, in family council, standards for our homes to keep them sacred and to allow them to be a ‘house of the Lord.’” Picture yourself sitting down with your family members, explaining the relationship between your home and a temple, and planning a few ways you can work together to increase the sanctity of your home.

And finally, Elder Stevenson has promised that, “the application of these principles will help turn the doors of [our] home[s] to the temple, or house of the Lord, and more fully allow [us] to make [our] sacred home a house of the Lord.”[4]

When you are ready, take a final deep breath and slowly turn your awareness back to your body. As you open your eyes and return to your surroundings, take a moment to jot down any thoughts, promptings, or questions that came to mind while you were pondering. And then make a plan to act on those things.

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[1] “Temple,” Bible Dictionary.

[2] Gary E. Stevenson, “Sacred Homes, Sacred Temples,” General Conference, April 2009 (at a stake conference, Elder Glen Jenson, an Area Seventy, invited the congregation to take a virtual tour of their homes using their “spiritual eyes:”).

[3] Russell M. Nelson, in Joy D. Jones, “An Especially Noble Calling,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2020, 16.

[4] Gary E. Stevenson, “Sacred Homes, Sacred Temples,” General Conference, April 2009.