When the capstone of the Salt Lake Temple was laid 100 years ago this month, it was a time of great jubilation.

It had been 39 years since ground had been broken for the temple. Of the 24 General Authorities serving in 1853 who had seen the temple started, only two - Presidents Wilford Woodruff and Lorenzo Snow - were alive in 1892 to see the temple being completed.The Deseret Evening News of April 6, 1892, reported thousands of people jammed Temple Square to witness the capstone ceremony, held in conjunction with April general conference. (See article on capstone ceremony, April 4, 1992, Church News.)

It was a time of great excitement.

The capstone ceremony signified the completion of the temple that was started long before the overland stagecoach made its dusty runs through the West, long before the telegraph came to the territory, and long before the railroad spanned the continent. For four decades - a period of time in which three other temples were started and completed - workers toiled to build the house of the Lord in the city by the Great Salt Lake as they built for themselves a home in the desert.

On that historic occasion of laying the temple capstone, President Joseph F. Smith, second counselor in the First Presidency, offered a prayer and petitioned that what transpired would "go down in the memories of those that are assembled here." He prayed that the young people in the vast crowd would carry the memories "to their latest day."

It was a time of dedication.

"We dedicate ourselves unto thee," said President Smith in his prayer, and he asked that the Lord ". . . acknowledge us as thy children and that we may feel in our hearts that our lives and course of action are acceptable unto thee." (Deseret Evening News, April 6, 1892, pp. 4, 8.)

Even though the prayer was given a century ago - and 40 more temples have been built since then to dot the face of the earth - the message of that capstone prayer is so timely today.

What could be more appropriate in this day and age when evil and sin are so rampant than dedicating our lives - our thoughts and actions - unto the Lord? Think of the good that would result in the world if each of us would live in such a way that we could say, as President Smith prayed for, that our lives and course of action are acceptable unto the Lord.

Living in conformity with the principles of the gospel is the only formula for true happiness in this life. Alma recorded, "Wickedness" - or in other words, living a lifestyle that is not acceptable unto the Lord - "never was happiness." (Alma 41:10.)

Sadly, however, our lives and actions sometimes may get out of harmony with the Lord's teachings. The Apostle Paul recognized this when he said, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Rom. 3:23.)

If our course of action in this life is not acceptable unto the Lord, we have the ability - and the agency - to reverse that course. We do not have to remain in that "awful state" of living out of harmony with the Lord's teachings. The Lord has shown us the way to make our course in life acceptable to Him.

The scriptures are replete with references of God's endless love for His children.

"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3:16-17.)

The scriptures are also replete with references of our responsibilities to Him in reciprocating that love by keeping His commandments, by dedicating our lives to Him.

"If ye love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15.) One hundred years ago, a prayer went heavenward from a servant of the Lord that the lives of Latter-day Saints would be acceptable unto Him. That same message is being sent heavenward by today's servants of God, attested by their powerful addresses in the just-concluded general conference.

The central core of the message lies in the infinite atonement of Jesus Christ. He opened the doors of the resurrection. He opened the doors of repentance that lead to everlasting life.

And if we heed that message we surely will earn a place in our Father in Heaven's mansions on high. We also will be a beacon for all the world to look to for safety through the storms of life.

Can we do anything less if we truly love our Heavenly Father?