"Whatsoever you seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever you bind on earth, in my name and by my word, saith the Lord, it shall be eternally bound in the heavens" (D&C 132:46)

When my husband and I were engaged, we spent some very precious money on a queen sized bed. We had to transport the mattress and box-springs about 40 miles to our soon-to-be apartment. My soon-to-be husband had finals, so my brother said he would help me transport the bed to our soon-to-be apartment. My brother and I put the items in the back of our dad's pick-up truck, bungee corded it down and were off. I was driving. We drove about 10 minutes to the freeway with everything just fine. I entered the freeway and sped up to freeway speed. I had been driving less than a minute when I saw in my rear-view mirror the mattress take flight and disappear. I was shocked! How could something so big, and so valuable, we were extremely poor students, come loose so easily and fly away, just like that?

My brother said he would go and get the mattress. He came back after a a while and told me he couldn't find it. I was a bit surprised because, how can you lose an item as large as a mattress? We decided he would walk back to the freeway entrance and I would walk forward on the freeway because it was an exceptionally windy day. After about 20 minutes or more we met back at the truck, with no luck of finding the mattress. As we got into the truck there came a fire engine with its lights and sirens blaring. I started to feel really nervous, and not just about getting married. I was worried I had caused an accident...or something, and how was I going to explain to my soon-to-be husband I had lost our mattress?

We followed the fire engine up the freeway about 2 or more miles. We pulled over and waited. There in the middle of the freeway was a smoldering mess of metal, in the shape of a mattress. The fireman came over to us and we asked what had happened. He said it was a mattress that had caught fire. He asked us if it was ours. I said it was mine and asked what I should do. He said, "Nothing, unless you want to pick up your garbage".

I learned a few things from this experience. One, make sure things are tied down securely, especially if you care about them. Don't take chances with a bungee cord and call it good. The Savior made a plan for us to use to make sure things are secure. This plan is called "the great plan of happiness" (Alma 42:8; see also Alma 12:22-33; Alma 34:8-16). This plan was so carefully laid out for all of God's children. It is wonderful and simple to follow. This "great plan of happiness" answers simple questions about where we came from and why. Where are we going? And, where will we go when we die? We don't have to wander the "freeway" of life looking for lost "items" or answers. Heavenly Father wants us to ask, in fact, we "are commanded in all things to ask of God, who giveth liberally" (D&C 46:7) and He will answer. (You can read more about this incredible plan here).

Another thing I learned, if things aren't securely tied down, or bound in their proper place, no matter how big they are, they can fly away and get lost. Binding things with a bungee cord, or with improper authority doesn't work. But, with the Lord's promise things are made stronger, and are put in their proper place. "Whatsoever you seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever you bind on earth, in my name and by my word, saith the Lord, it shall be eternally bound in the heavens" (D&C 132:46; see also Matt 16:19). Marriages are made stronger when sealed by the authority and power of God. President Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, "The ultimate end of all activity in the Church is to see a husband and his wife and their children happy at home, protected by the principles and laws of the gospel, sealed safely in the covenants of the everlasting priesthood. Husbands and wives should understand that their first calling-from which they will never be released- is to one another and then to their children" (And a Little Child Shall Lead Them). Bound together, not just by a bungee cord, or by an "I do", but by eternal, Priesthood Power is stronger than the cords of death or the cords of disagreement, or financial problems, disability, or physical problems. It is a power that Christ wants for all the families of the earth. Families can be together forever.

I find it interesting that 18 years later (today happens to be our anniversary), a mattress is very symbolic of our marriage, in more ways than one. Our society would have one think that you can have a "relationship" before you are married, but in reality, that type of "mattress", bound only by a bungee cord, will truly fly away and eventually get lost. I know, from personal experience, that the Priesthood is the power to bind marriages, to keep and protect families. Our marriage has its ups and downs, its trials and challenges. All marriages do. But, because we, my husband and I, have made a covenant with God, we have been strengthened and lifted in times of challenge, our burdens have been made lighter, and we have been bound together "by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; by kindness, and pure knowledge which...greatly enlarge[s] the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile-" (D&C 121:41-42).

I wish everyone could have a mattress story, to apply the joy of having a marriage that is filled with the beauty that comes from learning by "burning up a mattress". There are many more things I could share that I learned from burning up a mattress, but those will have to wait. This I testify, when we keep our part of the covenant, to give and receive each other, then Heavenly Father keeps His part. He says, "I, the Lord, and bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise" (D&C 82:10). This is a good way to keep a marriage secure and protected, keep God involved, and "burn up that mattress".

"That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour." 1 Thessalonians 4:4

When I started to weave baskets I soon found myself calling them "vessels". I have always been drawn to the idea of vessels. We have vessels all around us, cups to hold water, books to hold words, homes to hold families, flowers to hold smells, ears to hold wisdom (see Proverbs 2:2), eyes to hold "the light of God (Guide to the scriptures), hands and arms to hold service, hearts to hold understanding (see Mosiah 12:27; Proverbs 2:2). But the most amazing of all vessels is us. We are the most wonderful and beautiful creation of all. We are "temples of God" (1 Cor. 3:16-17). As I have pondered this incredible creation, our bodies, I have come to conclude that our bodies are very sacred and important because "the spirit of God dwelleth in [us]" (1 Cor. 3:16). Our bodies, our "vessel", house our spirits.

As our bodies are our "vessel" then we "should know how to possess our vessel in sanctification and honor" (1 Thessalonians 4:4). Sanctification means to make holy, consecrate, purify. Peter tells us "be ye holy in all manner of conversation" (1 Peter 1:15). Conversation "in the [King James Version]...usually means behavior, way of life, or conduct, rather than the modern sense of talking together" (Bible Dictionary). One of the most important things we can be aware of is how we treat our vessel and how we conduct ourselves. This led me to thinking of the very tender subject of a relationship between a husband and a wife. "For this is the will of God, even [our] sanctification, that [we] should abstain from fornication" (1 Thessalonians 4:3) and "not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14). Sanctification is "the process of becoming free from sin, pure, clean, and holy through the atonement of Jesus Christ" (The Guide to the Scriptures). In our relationships with our spouses we can draw closer to God as we "cleave" unto each other mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually (see Genesis 2:23-25).

"Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and none else" (D&C 42:22). To cleave is to be faithful to or to adhere or stick to. As I create a vessel, I must use a weaver that crosses over and under, or twists around the spokes of the vessel I am making. If I skip a spoke or get off by one, it weakens the vessel and the pattern is all messed up. I have had to go back and undo weaving because I have made mistakes. The beauty of God's pattern in a marital relationship is that we can correct our mistakes through repentance and the "cleansing power of the atonement" (Elder Boyd K. Packer). Some mistakes of miscommunication, selfishness, not giving or receiving love, can be parts of ourselves that can cause a wedge to develop in a relationship. God's pattern is to unite a husband and wife not only physically, but spiritually. We are taught in three sets of scripture this warning to protect our marriages: "That whosoever looketh on a woman [or a man] to lust after [them] hath committed adultery with [them] already in [their] heart" (Matthew 5:28; 3 Nephi 12:28; D&C 63:16). Protecting our marriages is one of the things that protect families, and protects us as individuals, the vessel's of the Lord. His patterns are always there to strengthen us, thereby strengthening our marriages.

God's pattern's are always perfect, because He is a perfect God. In a marriage, a husband and a wife can get closer to each other and to God by cleaving unto one other. "Therefore, shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24; Moses 3:24). Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, an apostle of the Lord said, "Human intimacy...between a man and a woman is...a symbol of total union: union of their hearts, their hopes, their lives, their love, their family, their future, their everything". He continues, "sexual intimacy is not only a symbolic union between a man and a woman—the uniting of their very souls—but it is also symbolic of a union between mortals and deity, … uniting for a rare and special moment with God Himself and all the powers by which He gives life in this wide universe of ours. … Surely God’s trust in us to respect this future-forming gift is awesomely staggering. … We carry this procreative power that makes us very much like God in at least one grand and majestic way.” (Strengthening the Family:The Sacred Powers of Procreation). As parents, protectors of the family, we get the responsibility to teach our children this sacred, beautiful, wonderful pattern of unity between husbands and wives.

This awesome, beautiful, and sacred union between a man and a woman is used to create not only children, but also unity. We are to be one in heart and mind, which to me means that we would treat each other how we would want to be treated, kindly, lovingly, honestly, without selfishness or manipulation. We are the "holy vessels of God" (1 Chronicles 22:19) and through God's holy pattern of chastity and virtue, we can strengthen our marriages, we can be one with our husband or wife the way God intended us to be strengthened. We will "know how to posses our vessel in sanctification and honor" (1 Thessalonians 4:4) This I testify.