"What Do You Think Christ is Saying to You?"

I had an interesting encounter in the temple during my last Tuesday night shift before my spinal fusion. I am still thinking about it and wondering just what all it means.

I had been assigned to Sealing Room Door Duty - someone who sort of guards the door and makes sure no one walks in on an active sealing and disrupts it. It's mostly a quiet spot, and I get to sit in a chair for most of the shift.

The temple has beautiful paintings throughout, and I look at those paintings sometimes, trying to figure out why they were selected and placed just where they are. (I have no doubt it is very deliberate and well thought out.)

Behind the chair I was sitting in is this one:

President Miskin came walking down the hallway and came over to say "hello." But then he did something unexpected.

"Lynn," he said looking me straight in the eye, "in this painting, what do you think Christ is saying to you, Lynn Isenbarger?"

His question was so unexpected that I'm afraid I stammered a bit in response, finally saying, "Probably He would say, 'Come unto me.'"

President Miskin continued to look at me directly, even intently, in the eye, and then he spoke again. "I think He is saying, 'Well done, My good and faithful servant, Lynn.'"

Not knowing what to say, I again fumbled to respond, replying that I hoped He would say that to me some day but that I still had a long way to go.

But President Miskin held my eyes a few more moments and countered, "I think He is saying, 'Well done, My good and faithful servant, Lynn.'"

And he walked past me down the hall, leaving me feeling more than just a bit puzzled and wondering why on earth he had felt compelled to tell me that. 

Twice.