“What I See in Temple Mirrors,” Liahona, Feb. 2025, United States and Canada Section.
What I See in Temple Mirrors
Temples can help us see ourselves and our families with eternal potential.
I love to go to the temple and perform proxy sealings for my ancestors. In the sealing rooms, two mirrors hang on opposite walls, enabling us to see not only ourselves but also infinitely repeating images of ourselves. The mirror images have caused me to ponder what I see in at least three different ways.
Our True Nature
First, of course, I see myself, but not just in a physical sense. Dressed in white, I see myself in a spiritual way, including both strengths and weaknesses.
President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, has taught us an important principle about seeing ourselves: “Those who do not see their weaknesses do not progress. Your awareness of your weakness is a blessing as it helps you remain humble and keeps you turning to the Savior. The Spirit not only comforts you, but He is also the agent by which the Atonement works a change in your very nature. Then weak things become strong.”
The mirrors prompt me to ask myself how well I am walking along the strait and narrow covenant path, despite my mortal weaknesses. Through Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, I have hope of returning to live in Their presence—not only to be with Them but also to be like Them.
Roots and Branches
Second, temple mirrors enable me to envision, in a sense, the eternal nature of my family relationships. In my mind’s eye, I see both forward and backward in time along the roots and branches of my family tree. The mirrors help me look back in time and symbolically see my “roots,” or ancestors—from my parents, grandparents, and so forth, all the way back to Father Adam and Mother Eve. The mirrors also help me envision the future and symbolically see my “branches,” or descendants—my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and beyond.
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught: “The earth will be smitten with a curse unless there is a welding link of some kind or other between the fathers and the children. … For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect” (Doctrine and Covenants 128:18).
As I think about my entire ancestral chain, I come to better understand my great responsibility to keep my personal link strong in the family chain. In addition to my own duty to carry on a legacy of faith, I want to help my children learn about their ancestors and develop a love and appreciation for them and a responsibility to them.
An Eternal Perspective
Third, temple mirrors cause me to consider things beyond this world and view eternity—both my premortal existence and my future, post-mortal life.
Satan tries to convince us that the things of greatest importance are things of this world—materialistic things that can be bought with money, promoting pridefulness, popularity, power, and prestige. The adversary wants me to be prideful and focus on the here and now, especially on myself. In contrast, our Savior helps us focus on things that have eternal importance.
As He taught:
“Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Matthew 16:25–26).
I love the mirrors in temple sealing rooms. They lift my thinking to a higher level and inspire me to do better and be better. They remind me of the “power from on high” that the Lord promises: “I gave unto you a commandment that you should build a house, in the which house I design to endow those whom I have chosen with power from on high” (Doctrine and Covenants 95:8).
The author lives in Utah.