The Spirit Quickens All Things

I had the opportunity to visit the Education in Zion exhibit the other day and as I was examining the exhibit, there was a scripture that caught my attention:

"The power of my Spirit quickeneth all things." - D&C 33:16

As I read this scripture, the idea struck me that our bodies, as amazing as they are, as intricate as they are, need to to be quickened by a Spirit to really be anything more than a lifeless mass of cells. Every lab period, we have the blessing to be able to look at the cadavers and learn from them. But I have never really been able to think of the cadavers as people, not in the same way I think of another person who is living. This is no disrespect to the person the cadaver was. But I think it shows that the part that really, truly makes a person human, the part that makes them who they are, is no longer there.

Just as the temple of God is the place where His Spirit resides, our bodies are the temples where our Spirits reside, just as 1 Corinthians 3:16 teaches us. It is a intricate, beautiful thing. But, just as the temple is just a building when it Gods Spirit doesn't reside there, our bodies are is nothing more than an empty house without our Spirit within.

This insight is important to me because it helps me appreciate the body for what it is and respect it more for its sanctity as a temple of the human spirit.