Eternal Roses

As I am sitting here smelling my rose hand cream (I know, not weird at all) and I imagine roses everywhere! What a concept, right?! Anyways, what do you think about when you think roses? Exactly! Love, romance, and even better, weddings. I became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on March 24, 2012 or otherwise known as the Mormon Church. If you do not know anything about the LDS church, I am now going to open your eyes to an essential aspect of the gospel, the Law of Chasity. Now, don't close the page just yet, I promise I am not here to scold or judge any of you reading this. I guess I will start by explaining my reaction when learning about the Law of Chastity. I am the only person in my family who is a member of the church, so I did not grow up with the notion that I should wait until marriage to have sex. Now, don't get me wrong, that does not mean that my family encouraged me in any way to have premarital sex. I grew up with the thought that it was acceptable to have sex before I was married as long as it was when I was older, more mature, and it was with someone that I trusted and cared about very much. When the missionaries started teaching me the gospel lessons, I could tell they were a little scared and I pretty much knew what they were going to say, but I let them sweat through the lesson. As I really pondered the Law of Chastity I went in between thinking that it was absolutely ridiculous and that it actually made a lot of sense. Growing up with a different set of beliefs made the experience of accepting this commandment very interesting, especially thinking back on it now. I always thought that I would date someone, we would move in together (which would obviously lead to breaking the Law of Chastity), and eventually get married, have kids, live happily ever after, etc. As I have grown more in the church and my testimony has become stronger, I look back on this and think that the life I had once imagined for myself was nothing compared to the life that I can have now that I am a member of this amazing church. The Law of Chastity states that the privilege of sexual relations should only be exercised after a man and a woman are legally married. Where this can be seen as crazy, because the first thing to pop into your mind is, "how do you know the person is right for you if you haven't done "the deed" with them?", but it isn't as crazy as it seems. Honestly, I thought the same exact thing, but then I realized that I do not have to know what the person is like in bed to know that I love them and want to spend the rest of eternity with them. Love is more than the gifts, more than the sex, more than anything else, but accepting the person for their faults first and loving their good aspects second. As much as that might not make any sense to you, nobody is perfect and accepting their faults allows for you to fall in love with their good aspects even more. This does not involve sex and as hard as it may seem sometimes, saving that special part of yourself for the right person, makes it so much more amazing when the time comes. Our Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to be happy, and keeping the Law of Chastity allows the members of his church to receive so many amazing blessings. Because I have chosen to keep the Law of Chastity, when the time is right, I will have the opportunity to get sealed to my husband in the temple and eventually be sealed to my children. Yes, because I chose to wait to have sex until I am married, I can be with my family for all eternity. Just the fact that I can be sealed with my husband and children for all eternity makes me about the happiest person on the planet. I have an incredible view of the Rexburg Temple from my apartment and every time I look over that balcony it reminds me of how many blessings Heavenly Father gives me and my future family if I just keep the Law of Chastity. I am so excited that one day I am going to be looking into my husband's eyes and be able to know that I have an eternal rose, an eternal love, that will never die.