Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a
house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a
house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;
Should* I ever express, with a sigh, my love for the Temple while in the presence of my father, he would surely reply (without a pause, and without variation), "you know, kt, Jesus Christ is the pattern for our lives, and the temple is the pattern for our homes."
One of my father's most effective parenting methods has been consistent, strategic communication** and his practice in this case does not vary. And so I have thought about the principles behind how the temple is managed and decorated - with the aim of executing those strategies effectively, albeit differently, in my own home.
Order and Cleanliness
One of my resolutions this year is to have "a place for everything and everything in its place" - and working toward this has been incredibly satisfying. Moving twice in the last 9 months has given me ample opportunity to purge my possessions. Even my car is tidy in this moment.# Truly, I've exceeded my expectations for myself.## The final frontier is my small bookshelf and coming up with a system to manage my bills / personal papers.
Holiness
Let me hang the proverbial WIP sign on this one. After hearing secondhand about a wonderful address on worthy music, I have been trying to purge my iTunes and DVD collections. This is really challenging for me. Not because I have anything 'black,' but of course I have lots of 'gray' (I will reserve my preferred 'grey' spelling for good greys. like shoes.). Do certain songs by the Beatles and Michael Jackson get grandfathered in? What about movies with fast cars and fast women (or ballerina dancers for that matter..) ? It's a difficulty, and I'm working through it.
Appearance
I have strong convictions about the relationship between the spirit and body. If the temple is a metaphor for our bodies and a pattern for our homes, then the appearance of our homes must also be significant. I don't mean tidiness/cleanliness, but the actual decoration.
But surely my apartment does not need to be decorated exactly like a temple, right? (right??) Firstly, I've seen quite the variation in temple decor. Secondly, I like lots of bright colors and whilst some temples have quite a bit of color, I find it is more subdued than I would like in my own home. Thirdly, as the function of a home varies from a temple, so (I presume) the execution of these principles may.
And so, let's keep this high level. Here are the patterns I've noted thus far:
- Motifs are simple, primarily organic, but often geometric.
- Artwork is not exclusively "religious," but may depict nature, or family life (emphasizing local history /culture).
- White and gold are used extensively. Other commonly used colors include green, purple, and pink (again, colors often found in nature).
- Lots of wood, stone, glass, mirrors, chandeliers.
- An impression of light, simplicity, and open space.
I love the idea of strategically decorating my home using similar principles. I may use this as my "best" in the good better best spectrum. While I could end up collecting quite a bit of pop art (I love movies, pop culture, etc.), what would that emphasize and romanticize to my {future} children? What would I find myself thinking about when I am home in my leisure time? If the artwork reflects the beautiful world God has created, the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, and the joy of family, I can see that supporting the strategy for keeping an eye single to the glory of God and raising children to do so as well. I think that the more I model my home's decor after the temple, the more the temple will seem "like home" to me and my {future} family. The temple may be more soft, more sober, more subtle; but I would love for it to seem familiar - perhaps even an extension - of home.
* hypothetically speaking, I mean.
** remind me to give further evidence of this later...
# I consider my car to be an extension of my home. Indeed, I consider my personal email inbox and my work cubicle to be extensions as well.
## did I mention they were low?
4 comments:
ooh I really like the principles in this message. Your reasoning about home decor makes so much sense. Thanks, Karren!
Curious -- in my somewhat rare meander through friends' blogs, and very rare choice to comment, I happen upon my sister. Why, hello, Becca.
She already said most of what I had to say. And surely your father has already mentioned what the Bible Dictionary "Temple" entry has to say about the home. So I will add only this: feeling appropriately inspired, I am now closing my laptop to clean up my room and hang up the pictures that have been sitting, framed, on top of my bookshelf since August :-).
I love this sort of high-level review of temple decor. My friend and former RS pres Gina is now a temple interior decorator, so I'm feeling quite pleased for her.
However, the Ghana temple. On the outside, it looks like any other small temple. (Aka beautiful.) On the inside, it looks like most other small temples--EXCEPT its color scheme is dark purple and dark yellow and triangles and bold greens, etc. Wow. Really. I thought--where are the white surfaces? Where's the restful ivory? What about some clean, elegant light blues?
Turns out, I'm a Westerner, and the temple decorators can pull it out when they want to. And, it seems, God doesn't mind.
I don't know how that helps (or relates to) your very perfect goals to move towards a more temple-y living space. But I wanted to say it.
It totally validates impressions I've had. The Oakland temple is so mild in its colors. The Mesa temple is FULL of green and purple - and they are BOLD! I love the variety in decor and am so happy that you told me this about the Ghana temple. Now I must visit...
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