The Cemetery

Since the accident it has been amazing the things I have realized about death and life after death.  Things that I had heard my whole life all of a sudden were being seen in a different light.  One of the biggest examples of this is how I see cemeteries. 

I know that cemeteries are usually shown as scary and dark in movies, but for me they were just a place where I would go with my family and we talk about some of our ancestors.  That all changed after Ethne's funeral.

In the dedicatory prayer at her graveside, that spot was blessed to be a sacred spot and that people who visit that spot would recognize it as sacred.  Since then I have found myself thinking of that prayer often and it has helped me realize something about cemeteries in general, the are holy places.  The sacredness of cemeteries increased when I realized that a cemetery is actually temple ground.  The bodies of great people are buried there, including Ethne's. 

As I was gaining the realization if how sacred the ground that holds Ethne is my visits started to change.  Every time I would go out to go see her I would think of the following scripture:

2 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

 4 And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

 5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

(Exodus 3:2-5)

In thinking of a cemetery and connecting it with temples, I realized that the other times I think of this scripture is whenever I take off my shoes in the temple.   After all, I am standing on holy ground.  So last spring I started taking off my shoes every time I went to visit Ethne.  When it started to snow Melissa told me I had to leave my shoes on, but now that it's starting to dry up a little, I will be taking my shoes off again.  

I would like to invite all of you to do the same.  Next time you go to visit a loved one at the cemetery, take off your shoes and remember that "the place whereupon thou standest is holy ground."