Two nights ago I had a brief flicker of a dream that gave me insight and understanding about the spiritual atmosphere to be found in the temple.  I love being there and serving there.  I’ve referred to my service as an ordinance worker as being an opportunity to bathe in, and to be immersed in, the Spirit.  My dream provides a good analogy to explain why this is so.

In this age of environmental awareness we hear a lot about the ozone layer.  Researchers have discovered a hole in the ozone layer in the southern hemisphere that lets harmful ultraviolet rays through.

My flicker of a dream correlated “ozone layer” with “spiritual atmosphere of the temple.”

Ordinance workers in the temple happily serve there week after week, and year after year, because they’ve there discovered a hole in the veil between this world and the world of spirits.  The temple is a place where the veil is very thin, and where spiritual influences easily come through.

It’s a blessing and a privilege to be in such an atmosphere and influence.  In the temple you’re out of the world.  Profane influences aren’t present.  Evil cannot penetrate.  Righteousness and goodness gather in the temple, much like light gathered around the person of the angel Moroni when he visited Joseph Smith.  (See Joseph Smith—History 1:43).

What a blessing it is to work in the temple.  There is a difference between visiting the temple for a one-and-a-half hour endowment session, and working a weekly 5-hour shift.  I’ve noticed that most ordinance workers arrive at the temple a whole hour before their shifts begin.  This explains why.