Think about your favorite places to be. What makes them special to you? What feelings and experiences are associated with that place? Would others feel the same way about it?

The word sanctuary can have many different meanings, but somewhere along the line they all have to do with protection. There is the consecrated or holy area, usually around a church, tabernacle, or temple. There are land sanctuaries, usually called preserves or protected areas where the plants and animals are allowed to grow and live protected and uninhibited by man. There is the general usage meaning a place of safety, no matter where or what that place may be. No matter how you refer to the word sanctuary, you are referring to a place you or someone else feels safe and protected.

Every disciple needs to have at least one sanctuary among their favorite and most visited places. The trick is finding the one that means the most to you that offers the greatest sense of peace and the Lord’s loving guidance and protection. Where can the disciple turn when he is in need of sanctuary?

There are three obvious choices: house, church, and the LDS temple.
These three areas are all places where the God can be close to us while we’re still on earth. These places should bring peace, love, and joy to the disciple of Christ.
What makes homes, chapels and temples places Heavenly Father can send His spirit and presence?

No matter your religion, people invite Heavenly Father to be in houses and chapels with them. They invite His spirit. They read and discuss His words. They focus their thoughts and learning on becoming more like Him and to understanding His will and ways.

We feel temples are special because they require Heavenly Father’s children to be their best selves in order to enter; temples are literally houses of God on the earth. In the LDS temples, Heavenly Father invites you into His home. Just as you get ready for church or to go visit a neighbor, Heavenly Father asks you to get ready to come see Him. To enter His house you need to be living a good, clean life and following His commandments. That is why all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints must interviewed by their religious leaders and receive a recommend to enter those sacred places. That is why the general public is kept out. It does and must remain the ultimate sanctuary for God’s children.

Keeping that in mind, it is also very reasonable to expect our homes and churches to carry that same level of reverence for sacred things. Homes and churches are where you practice and get ready to be as close to Heavenly Father as you can. These are the every day and always open sanctuaries. When you walk into your home can you feel God’s love for you? Do the members of your family feel safe, loved and supported within your walls? Even if not every member of your family believes as you, what can you as the disciple do to improve this atmosphere and open your home to more of the Lord’s spirit?

Think of the types of things you experience within your own church. What draws you there and what do you appreciate the most? Find ways to bring those aspects of your favorite place into your home and into your heart.

While these are some of the most concrete possibilities, there are also some transient places as well. The sanctuary we find in a physical place needs to leave there with us. We need to visit often enough that no matter when the need may arise the disciple can search within themselves and find that place of safety and reassurance, whether it be in our car, our bedroom, friends, cubicle, or a grove of trees. God is constantly reaching out to us offering sanctuary; we in turn need to reach out to Him.

Of knotted wood and lofted green
entered a boy of faith,
a prophet in embryo.
Therein was granted an
herald of peace
to echo through time’s
final corridor.

On the back of
a wooden chair
rest my forearms
and clasped hands.
My grove lies in
a quiet room with
worn carpet.
Wherein I, too,
am grateful for
the power of prayer.
Christopher A. Woods, “The Sanctuary,” New Era, Apr 2001, 51

Lehi was the first prophet of the Book of Mormon. Early in the timeline of the story of his life as a prophet, about 600 B.C., we learn of an extraordinary vision he received, known today as the Vision of the Tree of Life. In this vision, Lehi saw the Savior’s birth, ministry, and crucifixion, and also saw Satan’s efforts to undermine the Savior’s critical work on earth.

In this vision, he saw a tree, also called the Tree of Life, representing the love of God. A river of water ran near the tree, referred to as filthy water and representing Satan and all he stands for. Along the bank of the river, leading to the tree, was an iron rod, representing God’s word. A straight and narrow path led alongside the rod and to the tree. The tree held a fruit that was highly desirable, but you had to follow that very narrow, straight path to reach the tree. It might seem an easy thing to do, but as Lehi watched, many people intentionally left the path or wandered off of it, sidetracked by various distractions.

Lehi watched four groups of people start off on the path. The first started off well, but then encountered an intense mist of darkness. This mist represents temptation. The mist caused the people to fall off the path and wander away, because it was no longer easy to see the path and remain on it. Once off, they likely became distracted by all the temptations and neglected to return, and so they never obtained the desirable fruit.

The second group pushed on through the mist until they found the iron rod. They took hold of it and kept going, not allowing the mist to distract them from their goal. Regardless of the challenges, the iron rod—the word of God—kept them focused on the rewards at the end of the path. All was not well with this group, however. Even though they made it to the tree and tasted of the magnificent fruit, they quickly began looking around, checking out the reactions of others. There was a “great and spacious building” nearby, representing pride. The people in this building, dressed in elegant clothing, taunted the people who were eating the fruit. The people who had been enjoying the rewards of their journey suddenly found themselves embarrassed by the taunts, and quickly rushed off the path and joined those who felt that following the path was foolish or silly.

A third group found the path, stayed on it through the challenges, ate of the fruit and didn’t look around to collect opinions on their decision. Those people stayed to collect the rewards of their journey without any distractions at all. They received the fullness of the promised blessings.

The final group frequently fell into the river and drowned, or tried to find their way to the building with the rich and mocking people, but instead got lost and wandered aimlessly on strange paths.

This vision clearly outlines all the things that can happen to us as we seek out the path the Savior wants us to follow. Finding it isn’t enough. We have to have the focus and concentration to stay on it to the end, regardless of the temptations and distractions offered along the way. Certainly the world, led by Satan, offers many of those. He has gone out of his way to disguise sin as pleasure. Those sins can keep us from reaching a joy far greater than any temporary, worldly pleasure Satan might have to offer.

There are many people who do not have our best interests at heart. Unfortunately, it is easy to listen to them and to back down when it gets challenging. Teenagers, for instance, often care deeply about the opinions of their peers, and the teasing they receive for dressing modesty, practicing chastity, or spending the Sabbath doing the Lord’s will can push them off the path and onto one that seems easier, but robs them of true joy.

Many people wander aimlessly through life, playing games, watching television, and functioning without any purpose at all. They can spend their entire lives wandering around, never remembering the goal they once set for themselves, perhaps at baptism or other critical moments in their lives. When their lives end, they have nothing to show for the time they put into their lives.

The only way to return to our Father in Heaven is to get on the straight and narrow path, hold on to the iron rod (God’s word) and ignore the efforts of Satan and the world to distract you. Heaven matters. God matters. Don’t let anyone or anything distract you from enjoying the fruits of the Gospel and God’s love for you.