Today’s blog post is all about a special little man, Spencer. He is our nephew, cousin and sweet spirit that returned to our Heavenly Father 5 years ago this week. It’s so hard to lose a loved one, especially when they are so young, but I am so grateful for families and for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many of you that read this are not members of our church so I hope you’ll indulge me a bit to explain Temples and that aspect of our religion that gives us hope and peace, even during very trying times.
One of the most touching and important parts of our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, (you know us as Mormons! 
) is that we believe that our families can be together forever. Our church website www.mormon.org says
“In temples, Church members participate in ordinances designed to unite their families together forever and help them return to God. In the temple, members:
- Learn eternal truths.
- Receive sacred ordinances, including those that bind husband and wife together for eternity, as well as join children and parents (Malachi 4:5-6).
- Provide ordinances such as baptism for those who have died without the opportunity to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:29; 1 Peter 4:6”
Knowing this about “mormons” helps explain why death is not the end for us and because of this, we have a great hope that gets us through losing a loved one. On the anniversary of Spencer passing away, we go to our temple here in OKC and do a special family night where we talk about what we need to do to stay close to Heavenly Father and Jesus, follow the commandments and do what is right so that we can return to them and be a forever family. We also write a few things that we are going to work on being better at (kind of a promise or commitment to Spencer) on balloons and then we let them go…sending our love up to sweet Spencer.
These are pictures from when we did it a few years ago. Notice Lydia kissing Spencer’s photo….she did that all on her own. It was so tender. I’ll do another post with the Spencer family night we did this week next.
1 comment:
Maria - this is such a beautiful post. I love what your family does to celebrate Spencer. At the time of Spencer's passing I didn't have children and now that I do, I can't begin to imagine the suffering the Warnocks and close family members must have experienced. What a blessing, however, to have your children truly understand the importance of temples in such a personal way. You are such a great mom and have always been such a great example to me! Thanks for the post. I'm excited to see you in less than two weeks!
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