Bellas Puertas

Yesterday I had the opportunity of going down the temple to clean. The temple has been closed for the last two weeks for its semiannual cleaning. This time I was assigned to polish the wood in the recommend area near the main doors to the temple and then the temple presidency's offices. We took polish and sprayed it on the wood and wiped it off. If there were scratches in the wood, we took furniture markers and covered them up. We paid particular attention to any dust that had accumulated on horizontal edges. The wood sparkled when we were done.

I kept thinking of the hymn I learned on my mission in Mexico. In English, it is "Beautiful Zion, Build above". In Spanish, it is "Bella Sion". The words are:

Beautiful Zion, built above;
Beautiful city that I love;
Beautiful gates of pearly white;
Beautiful temple- God's delight;
He who was slain on Calvary
Open those gates for me.

Chorus:
Beautiful Zion, Lovely Zion;
Beautiful Zion;
Zion, City of our God?

Beautiful heav'n where all is light;
Beautiful angels clothed in white;
Beautiful strains that never tire;
Beautiful harps throughout the choir;
There shall I join the chorus sweet,
Worshiping at the Savior's feet.

Beautiful crowns on every brow;
Beautiful palms the conq'rors show;
Beautiful robes the ransomed wear;
Beautiful all who enter there;
Thither I press with eager feet;
There shall my rest be long and sweet.

When I was on my mission, the chorus used to say, "Bellas puertas" instead of "Bella Sion" as it says today. Not that that matters much. It just made me think of the temple doors.

I suppose there is an economy of the Lord. To enter the temple, we pay our tithes. As a result, we there must be trade offs. Perhaps we don't buy the newest car (see my previous post) or live in the largest house. But but by making these decisions we learn the joy of understanding the will and doctrine of the Lord. Great are the blessings of attending the temple.

Bellas puertas, Bellas puertas;
Bellas las pertas, Bellas puertas de Sion.