Fantastic Blog Badges!

This morning after studying in Ezra which was a great example of how important temples should be to us.  The Book of Ezra in the Old Testament accounts how the Jews returned to their homeland to rebuild the temple to the Lord that had previously been destroyed.

And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy, [Ezra 6:16]

In response, I felt like displaying how important the temple is to me and my family in some way on my blog to celebrate a bit.  I admit, going there myself and walking the grounds or serving inside is a better way to show my gratitude for the temple, but I won't be able to go to see the temple at least until Sunday afternoon.  I looked online for a picture of one of my favorite temples and found a great blog with a ton of temple blog badges ready made to put on a blog.  I know it's called "One Cute Blog Blinkies" and that a lot of the badges are just too cutesy for me, but I still found some that were sufficiently manly.  :D
The Washington DC temple has always stood out to me as one of the most beautiful.  I chose it to show on my blog today, and also found a great badge with a quote by President Gordon B Hinckley about books.  See if there's a badge you'd like, especially about the temple.

Do You See Him As He Is?

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. [1 John 3:2]

When I teach about our Heavenly Father, one of the first things I always ask to get people thinking is about how they picture him in their minds.  Watching this, I also thought about how we picture Jesus Christ in our minds.  What they physically look like in our minds isn't as important as the characteristics we relate with them.
As a missionary, we emphasize the attributes of faith, hope, charity, love, virtue, knowledge, patience, humility, diligence, obedience.  This are the qualities of Jesus Christ that we work to develop in ourselves.  As we picture Jesus Christ, do we think of him displaying these qualities?  Many of the artists in these portrayals of Christ captured these and other qualities.  As the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth approaches, let's focus our attention on Jesus Christ.  Through the holiday, we'll see many depictions of him.  Let's stop and think about the Christ-like attributes we see in the depiction, and behold more than just the scene.  As you see those attributes, think of ways that you can develop them in yourself, so that when you see him, you will be like him and see him as he is.