THE TREASURE HUNT FOR SYMBOLS OF CHRIST:

The family of six was active, curious, and anxious for a sacred temple experience in the varied bustle  of touring Europe and now France.  I shared with them that good temple training was to learn to find and understand symbols and that there were many symbols of Christ in the garden.  They wondered how to find them and wanted a key.  I suggested that they let the children in on the game and prayerfully invite them on a symbol treasure hunt.  

Then I told them this story:

Last week a couple came into the Paris Temple Visitor’s Center.  He was from Portugal and had joined the church two months ago.  They were both there to see the new temple and enjoy the gardens and spiritual peace. After orienting them to the model of the temple, I suggested that being taught by the Lord through symbols required that we learn this new language, the language of symbols. 

After talking about the value of the scriptures in gaining this linguistic experience, he asked what else he could do.  I suggested that they take a walk through the gardens looking for the twelve to fifteen symbols that some had identified in the garden. He asked for some examples.  I usually give a couple, but this time felt to invite him to be prayerful and return and report.  At first, he just thought I was joking.  He spoke very good English, so I suggested that one man’s symbol is another’s yawn. He got my point that finding them prayerfully gave personal value to them in a way that just following someone else’s research couldn’t do and so agreed to go practice the language of symbolism.

9 stairs leading from Christus to the temple & VC

After about an hour or so they returned displaying a long list on his phone.  His list was longer than mine, but he remained puzzled and insisted that I tell him what the number nine represented. It was my turn to look puzzled.  He laughed and explained that the number nine seemed to be the theme of the garden in that there were nine of so many things.  I asked for an example.  He pointed to the nine tall thin trees that form the first-row back drop to the Christus statue and then insisted that I tell him what nine symbolized.  Searching for sources for our now joint curiosity, I suggested that the Hebrew alphabet might be a source.

I had used it in an earlier Meridian article so I accessed it with my phone. https://latterdaysaintmag.com/seeking-the-lords-sacred-signature-on-our-lives/   I explained that each letter in the Hebrew alphabet is also a number since there are not separate characters.  Then each letter/number is a small representative of a symbol, the number nine is the Teth which is an image of “the womb”.  Its secondary meanings are “rebirth” and “final judgement.”

 I asked him if any of the things that he found with nine fit in symbolism.  His eyes, by that time were like wide saucers. “All of them fit!” He exclaimed.  “Christ is the final judge and the source of rebirth. The temple is indeed the source to come for rebirth!”  I agreed and began to encourage people to prayerfully go and find their own symbols in the garden.  It has become a favorite temple activity, especially for parents with restless children as they go on a treasure hunt together.

The "Twelve" in "Living Water"

It was to Adam that God first told to use symbols in teaching their children the plan of happiness including the ubiquity of intentional symbols that all bear record of Him.  We swim in a sea of symbols since "All things have been created to bear record of Him." (Moses 6:63)

From the tree of life, up the strait path...

Holding to the rod

One comes to the Christus

This Easter Week we have watched many a wide and searching eyed child out on a symbol hunt in our Garden.  They may not get to eat them like their easter egg and candy but they may be more understanding of the sacred symbols that will one day be part of their education in the divine university that is the temple!

His word if the rod

The rod not only leads to Him but also is the only security on the path.

He is the stone of the corner

He is the light we should hold up-12 for priesthood

Each light crowned with His crown

He stands radiating to all the garden

From Left to right looking past the Christus: VC, Temple, Patron Housing, worker housing

Walking forward towards the stairs with eyes closed causes one to rely on feelings instead of sight

From the baptismal fountain below, looking towards the VC and temple with the Christus left and the Tree of life to the right.

“Symbolism exists precisely for the purpose of conveying to the imagination what the intellect is not ready for.”

– Walter Hooper, ed., The Collected Letters of CS Lewis, Vol. II (San Francisco, 2004), 565

Too busy to post... much has happened including a brief visit to the Versailles Chateau where the history of France is unfolded in magnificent paintings and ceiling art.


Many a visitor to the Temple visitor's center come directly from the chateau to the temple center.  The contrast between the two chateau's is noteworthy.  Versailles is full of the history of men conquering men.  Furnishings, paintings and statuary portray everything from continual conquest to lust and debauchery.








One can't help but be overwhelmed with room after room of human history, conquest, and prideful indulgence.

The beauty is stunning, even elegant in showing what man can create.  We were, however, finally relieved to reach the end and re-enter our own time and reality.  We then stopped at a small Thai restaurant called The Thailandese.  The food was excellent and the service superb.  The walk was about 20 minutes from our apartment through city streets and traffic circles.


As we returned to our little apartment and prepared to re-enter the visitor's center, we had some empathy for those tourists who are overwhelmed with the elegance of the Versailles chateau and then enter the simplicity of the Lord's chateau.

The peaceful spirit of the temple visitor's center, the Christ centered symbols of the temple and gardens, the ancestral service and binding of the temple purpose, etc. combine to draw those sensitive to the Spirit.  A woman from the neighborhood stopped in yesterday.  She was of Chinese descent but re-located to France.  She informed me that her heritage and upbringing were products of China and hence atheist.  After giving her an overview of the center she asked to watch the video history of the temple.  She said that she walks by everyday and feels something she can't identify and so came to see all she could.  I alerted the sister missionaries who were watching conference in the Family History center, so that I could speak with another family.  An hour later I met the Chinese-French woman at the door.  She was smiling and searching through the literature rack to add things to her Book of Mormon given to her by the missionaries.  She was hungry for understanding. The family I had turned to is another story for another post to come; The treasure hunt for the Garden symbols!