Temple Attendance

We have been asked to attend the Temple once a month.  Just one time, for 2 hours.  Seems pretty simple and straightforward when you think about it.  Not that big of a commitment really - should be doable, right?  That is, until you factor in (at least in my case): 3 young children who need a babysitter, 2.5 hours of driving time there and back, a husband with a very busy calling, and then the precious little time we get in a week to get anything done.  It seems nearly impossible to dedicate one entire day (which is what it amounts to) to go to the Temple. 

And then you go to the Temple.  Everything may be stacked against you but you make it there and get inside.  You are sitting there with everyone else and you feel the spirit, you know why you are there and you receive insight and inspiration.  You KNOW that this is the most important place you could be and that you NEED to make it a priority.  You drive home feeling the spiritual high that comes from being at the Temple.  The next month you repeat the cycle of frustration and resistance.  

Why is that?  It shouldn't be hard, especially since we know why we should go and how we feel when we do go.  Why does it have to be complicated?  Satan is always working against us and pitting us against ourselves, helping us get in our own way.  

We have managed, with great help from one loving and willing mother-in-law, to attend the temple for the last 4 months straight.  It has been such an uplifting experience and reminds me of what is most important.  When we were first married we attended every month up until Emma was born - 2.5 years of going every month!  It really was such a good foundation and base for our marriage and helped us to be able to make it through those next 9-10 months with a nursing baby and not really being able to attend.  I am hoping that these 6 months or so of going straight (we have been often but not consistently over the past year or so) will help us make it through the following months when we again have a nursing baby and will be less able to go.  

It is something I am so grateful to have so accessible and when you realize how far some people have to and do travel in order to go it makes you realize how much we take for granted.  I am hoping I can feel as though I have earned the blessing of the temple being built here in Calgary by attending Cardston as often as possible until then.