Stand ye in holy places

This post has been rumbling in my brain since Tuesday night. I had the opportunity to visit Caleb and his parents at the hospital. It was an experience I won't forget. In the scriptures we are urged to stand in holy places (D&C 101:22). Oftentimes we consider the holy place to be a church or the temple, but those are not the only places that are sacred.

You would not normally walk into a hospital and consider it to be a "holy place". But our little spot in the waiting room where we talked with him and his parents was. The thousands of prayers being offered in their behalf and their perspective and reliance on God have turned their little corner of that hospital into a place where God is felt which is what a holy place is. Angels are surrounding them, lifting them up and comforting them.

I recall another experience I had that I knew I had entered a holy place. My dearest, life long (actually we knew each other before this life of that I am convinced) friend, Lisa lost her husband in a tragic motorcycle accident 7 years ago. The morning after he died I walked into her home and was overwhelmed by the spirit and the peace there. I walked into her bedroom where she was holding his motorcyle helmet on her lap. I laid on her bed and held her hand and we cried and amazingly we also laughed together. I was in a holy place that day. Again, thousands of prayers were being offered in her behalf and I know angels were around us that day.

I want my home to be holy...sometimes that seems impossible with the chaos and noise that reigns supreme most of the time. In the Bible dictionary it states under temple that :

"A temple is literally a house of the Lord, a holy sanctuary in which sacred ceremonies and ordinances of the gospel are performed by and for the living and also in behalf of the dead. A place where the Lord may come, it is the most holy of any place of worship on the earth. Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness."

Did you read that last line?? Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness! So how do I make my home into that holy place comparable to the temple? Here are a few things that come to my mind: sincere, heartfelt prayers, our tone of voice, acts of service, a clean and orderly atmosphere, laughter, happiness, positive words, study of sacred words.

Where have you felt is a holy place? What do you do in your home to make it holy and sacred?