I’d like to share a talk with you that means a lot to me.  It’s called “Our Refined Heavenly Home” by Elder Douglas L. Callister.  Perhaps you’ve read it.  It was originally given at a BYU devotional in 2006 and was subsequently reprinted in BYU magazine in full and in the June Ensign in part.

Photo by Bradley Slade

Why does this talk mean so much to me?  It puts into eloquent words many lessons and truths that the Spirit has taught me over the years — lessons and truths that in some cases I have been able to articulate but in many cases I have not, though I have made sense of them in my mind and felt them in my heart.

I’ll let you read the talk on your own, but here is one paragraph that describes the purpose of it:

Today I would like to peek behind the veil that temporarily separates us from our heavenly home and paint a word picture of the virtuous, lovely, and refined circumstances that exist there. I will speak of the language, literature, music, and art of heaven, as well as the immaculate appearance of heavenly beings, for I believe that in heaven we will find each of these in pure and perfected form.

And here is one of Elder Callister’s most important teachings:

The nearer we get to God, the more easily our spirits are touched by refined and beautiful things.

I believe this teaching to be true.  And it’s not something a person understands until they experience it themselves.  The nearer we get to God, the more we know Him, and the more we become like Him, the more we recognize, appreciate, and seek after the good, the pure, the virtuous, the tasteful, the profound, the beautiful, and the refined in all aspects of life.

Please take a few minutes to read or listen to this talk.  I think you’ll find it to be inspiring and enlightening.

What do you think?