Welcome.

I interviewed for a job recently that I was offered and accepted. It’s an ordinary skill applied in an extraordinary place.

I was hired a few weeks ago to be a part time custodian in my local temple.

It’s been

INCREDIBLE.

While the hours are definitely rough, and in my sister’s words, about “wreck me,” that negative is undeniably outweighed by the many positives of the job. The percentage of people who work for the church in the temple is minuscule, and I’m just flat out honored to have the chance for this season of my life. The crew with whom I work is both fun and wonderful. Each of us has our respective challenges, but we are united in our love of the Lord and His holy house.

And the environment! Finally, no swear words. No inappropriate conversations. No loud, obnoxious music.

Instead, peace, tranquility, a sacred quietude even with vacuums running and stake volunteers scurrying around corners and in and out of doors. These devoted souls show up night after night to help us clean. After working full days, people file in by the numbers to work half nights. They are smiling when they come, and they work pleasantly and efficiently.

As one of them stands and offers a collective prayer for the group before we assign them to their stations, I am always moved by what they say and how they say it. They are grateful to have come, even at such a late hour, to be angels of goodness, readying for another day the house of the Lord they love.

As I see them work and as I work alongside them, I think of one of my favorite scriptures found in the Bible in the book of Psalms: “For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” (Psalms 84:10)

Yes!

Sometimes I am so moved by the pictures that hang on the walls. I stop and study them. I feel especially drawn to the ones that include children or women, and I’m always searching them for symbolic meaning, eager to find connecting symbols to Israel’s sons. And then I remember something the head custodian told me: 80% are originals, not to be found elsewhere, and again, I am overcome by the privilege that is presently mine.

When I first entered the youth waiting area on the third floor where children and babies are cared for in preparation for a family sealing, I was totally overcome. There is a special spirit in that room and especially where the crib stands. Last week I was in there alone, and I wept. It is a holy place.

Things are authorized to be in their respective places and are not to be moved. It’s all so orderly, so fitting, so deserving for He whose home it is.

Per Salt Lake’s direction, our celestial room chandelier is to be cleaned every five years. In a couple years from now, each crystal will be removed and individually cleaned – one by one. Just like it works with people in the gospel. A true principle applied in environmental services. Incredible.

The administration office has a special feel, too – especially the president and matron’s offices. There’s tangible authority and power present in those sacred spaces, and I sense it.

I’m just over the moon excited and honored about this little part-time job for however long it lasts, for however long my not so young body can work these hours. Cleaning is a pretty ordinary thing, but cleaning in the Lord’s house is anything but ordinary. It’s absolutely extraordinary. I clean for Him, for those sanctified and striving saints who will set foot inside, and for the respect due sacred ordinances.

Unto all the world: I’m with the psalmist: “For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand…” (Psalms 84:10)