The Empty Jar & Temple Sealings
An empty jar…
While I appreciated all of the many gifts, cards and well wishes that Kim and I received at our wedding, there was one gift in particular that stood apart from the rest.
An empty jar.
Attached to it was a letter with a quote from S. Michael Wilcox and a note from some dear friends. I couldn’t finish reading the letter and had to have Kim read the rest of it for me.
“My wife often cans peaches and pears in the fall. A great deal of work is necessary just to prepare the fruit. Then, once it is prepared, she puts it into jars, places the seals on, twists the lids tightly into place, and sets the jars in boiling water. Then she waits for the seals to set.
She has performed this operation dozens of times with hundreds of jars. In all that time I have never seen her seal an empty jar. Unless the jar is loaded with fruit, a seal is not placed. I doubt if anyone, among the thousands who can fruit every year, has ever sealed an empty jar. There must be something to preserve or the seal has no significance.
The sealing of temple covenants is similar. When we are married at the altars of the temple, the Lord, from one point of view, gives us an empty jar. Then he instructs us to fill it with the wonderful fruits of righteous marriage. We fill it with love and compromise and forgiveness and joy and peace and shared trails; we fill it with all the things of life, all the good fruit. As we keep our covenants, returning often to renew them as we work for the dead, the jar begins to fill. As we grow older and our love deepens, we desire to preserve forever all the good we have stored.
Our abiding in the covenant allows the Lord to place the seal on our covenant relationship and preserve the fruits of our righteousness for all eternity. This is the same for all temple covenants. Nobody seals an empty jar; neither does the Lord seal empty covenants. First there must be fruit to preserve.”
In the temple, you were given an empty jar as a present. Eternal marriages are not made at the altar. They are made by the things that you will do together and for each other every day thereafter. May you spend your lifetime filling your jar with all of the sweet things of your life together.
With love and best wishes for your marriage,
The Snyders
22 Comments on “The Empty Jar & Temple Sealings”
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I am stealing this.
thank you, sometime you forget the little things that really count. Even after 37 years you can still add mor to the jar.
Absolutely beautiful! Thank you for sharing! :-D
I love this! Do you mind if I share it on my blog?
This is great! Do you mind if I share this on my blog?
♥
Anyway the word trails, can be corrected with trials? I think this is an awesome idea for weddings. “shared trails”
I live on Apache Hills Trail…one day inadverdently I typed Trial and realized it probably was more accurate after raising 6 children along this trail of life. I got a chuckle having never done that before, but thought I lived at the right place! Beautiful words of wisdom for newly married.
Thank you for sharing this. It is absolutely wonderful. After almost 15 years of marriage I hope that our Jar is slowly filling up, I know that we have many more memories to put into it.
This is beautiful, thank you for sharing!!
So simple, yet so true. Thanks for sharing!
As a Young Women President I had one of my 1st Laurel get married on Saturday and I couldn’t figure out what to get her..I now know what I am going to give. Thanks
un hermoso relato que compartiré (soy presidenta de la sociedad de socorro en mi Barrio)
I absolutely love this!! Thank you for sharing!!
I would love to do something like this. Is the whole quote from Michael Wilcox? In one of his books, a talk?
Most of it is from Michael Wilcox. Some of it is from my friends, the Snyders. I’m not sure what talk/book it comes from.
It comes from S. Michael Wilcox’s book “House of Glory: Finding Personal Meaning in the Temple” He also referenced this in talks at Education Week.
This is great. It makes me wonder after over 20 years of marriage how full my jar is.
My wife and I have just started filling our jar. :)
I love this, I hope you don’t mind if I use it too. Thank you for sharing.
No, I don’t mind. PLEASE share! :)
This is awesome! Thanks for sharing. I'm pinning it!