by Annette Lyon
I went through the temple doors for my own endowment feeling ready and excited to make sacred covenants and learn more about the gospel in a new setting. I wasn’t sure what to expect, although I’d had friends who’d come out with their heads spinning because the temple had seemed so foreign to them. I hoped my first time through wouldn’t be like that, instead crossing my fingers that it would be beautiful and wonderful.

First I experienced the initiatory ordinance. It exceeded my expectations: beautiful beyond words and something I wanted to go back and do for the dead so I could hear the words again and remember them. I figured the part that had confused my friends was still coming.

A couple of hours later when I entered the celestial room, my head was spinning slightly, but only because I had learned so much to keep straight and because I was a bit lightheaded from fasting. The foreign, strange part I’d expected never arrived.
I didn’t know why.

In the following months, as I sat in on talks and lessons at church, I heard many things I’d also heard in the temple. My mouth gaped open, and then I quickly closed my jaw and reminded myself, Wait. That’s also in the book of Abraham. I looked around sheepishly and adjusted myself in my seat. In other cases, the words I’d heard were also in the book of Genesis, or Moses, or some other book of scripture.

And then what was happening dawned on me.

Thanks to a mother who raised me to love and study the scriptures, I knew them well. On top of that, I’d recently had a professor at BYU who’d encouraged me to look for references to covenants, the temple, and the priesthood in the scriptures. In the months leading up to my endowment, I’d been paying close attention to the very verses that would best prepare me.

I hadn’t known at the time that, in great measure, the temple is the scriptures—just packaged in a different format.

This is why I see it as no coincidence that my Beehive daughter and Teacher son are required to read their scriptures so much in their Personal Progress and Duty to God programs.

What else could possibly better prepare them for the temple than the scriptures?

In years past, the Young Women program often focused so hard on getting the girls to marry in the temple that they almost forgot to mention the endowment. I’ve noticed with gratitude a shift in focus. Today, the final part of the Young Women theme is not just about the sealing ordinance—the crowning, culminating ordinance, but not the only one to prepare for:

We believe as we accept and act upon these values, we will be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation.

When we think of temple work, we often think to the past. But I believe that a huge portion of temple work lies in the future, in preparing the upcoming generation, the army of the Lord who will usher in the Last Days. That means preparing our youth to make their own covenants and to do the temple work to come, and that means, in large part, making sure they know their scriptures.

While the youth are supposed to be reading scriptures for personal scripture study, and, when they’re a little older, for seminary, parents can be part of the experience as well. Don’t underestimate the power of simple family scripture study, even if it’s half a chapter—or less—before bed. Sometimes a few verses can spark a discussion about a gospel principle.

Take advantage of small moments in the car or other times when you’re alone with your youth to discuss the gospel. Granted, you can’t pick up your son from junior high and say, “So, tell me what you think about Helaman’s warriors,” but you might be surprised at how open youth are to talking about the gospel, their problems, the scriptures, and how the scriptures can relate to their lives today. Don’t force it, but open the door and let them talk.

Satan knows that the Lord’s future warriors are today’s youth. And if he can keep them from the temple, he can tear down a generation. As parents, one of the best ways we can arm our children is with a steady diet of the scriptures. Sneak it into them if you have to, but make sure it’s there. Not only will they have the Spirit with them as they fight the daily fight, but they’ll be getting themselves ready for the temple, both to do baptisms for the dead and, later, to understand the endowment when—not if—they make those covenants for themselves one day in the not-so-distant future.