A Perfect Picture

"In my locker I always keep a picture of the temple, so throughout the day every time I go to my locker between classes I'll look at it and think, 'That is where I want to go someday,'" says Sandra W. She explains that seeing the temple every time she opens her locker helps her feel the Spirit and "reminds me to keep my standards, and it will help me get to where I want to be."

Alvin says that placing gospel pictures around his room helps make his bedroom a place of spiritual strength and peace. "Beside my bed I have one picture of the Salt Lake Temple," he says. "Then on my wall I have another picture of the Vancouver British Columbia Temple. I also have a picture of Jesus Christ in my room. All of these pictures really remind me of where I want to go. I want to go to the temple, so I have to conduct myself in such a way that I'll get there."

"I have a picture of the temple on my wall as well as this framed picture and poem about baptismal covenants and keeping yourself clean," says Stephanie W. She also has a poster from a Young Women lesson that says, "Yield to the promptings of the Spirit while dating."

The common thread for these three teens is that having a picture of the temple or the Savior where they can see it regularly helps them feel the Spirit. "I look at my pictures and they keep me in tune," adds Stephanie. Like carefully tuning in a station on the radio to keep the signal strong, if we live worthy of the Spirit and keep righteous goals like the temple in sight, we can help strengthen the Spirit's signals and better hear and feel the daily promptings of the Holy Ghost in our lives.

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance" (John 14:26).

See a Mormon Messages video about tuning in to the "Voice of the Spirit" at lds.org/go/112.

Photographs by Paul VanDenBerghe