One afternoon near Paris,

my father and I visited the great cathedral at Chartres.

Malcolm Miller, a world expert on the cathedral,

pointed out three sets of Chartres’ stained glass windows. He said they tell a story.

The first windows show Adam and Eve leaving the Garden of Eden.

The second recount the parable of the good Samaritan.

The third depict the Lord’s Second Coming.

Taken together, these stained glass windows can describe our eternal journey. They invite us to welcome all with room in His inn. Like Adam and Eve,

we come into a world of thorns and thistles. On our dusty roads to Jericho, we are beset upon, wounded, and left in pain.

Though we should help each other, too often we pass to the other side of the road,

for whatever reason. The Good Samaritan puts us on His own donkey

or, in some stained glass accounts, carries us on His shoulders.

The Good Samaritan, a symbol of our Savior, promises to return.

Jesus Christ invites us to become like Him, a good Samaritan, to make His Inn (His Church) a refuge for all from life’s bruises and storms.

We prepare for His promised second coming as each day we do unto “the least of these” as we would do unto Him.

The “least of these” is each of us.

We come to the Inn as we are,

with the foibles and imperfections we each have.

Yet we all have something needed to contribute.

Our journey to God is often found together.

We belong as a united community—whether confronting pandemics, storms, wildfires, droughts, or quietly meeting daily needs.

As our hearts change and we receive His image in our countenance,

we see Him and ourselves in His Church. In Him, we find clarity, not dissonance. In Him, we find cause to do good, reason to be good, and increasing capacity to become better. In Him

we discover abiding faith, liberating selflessness, caring change, and trust in God. In His Inn, we find and deepen our personal relationship with God, our Father, and Jesus Christ. He entreats us to make His Inn a place of grace and space where each can gather, with room for all.

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we’re all equal, with no second class groups.

We mourn, rejoice, and are there for each other.

In His Inn, we learn perfection is in Jesus Christ,

not in the perfectionism of the world. Unreal and unrealistic,

the world’s “insta-perfect” filtered perfectionism can make us feel inadequate, captive to swipes, likes, or double taps.

In contrast, our Savior, Jesus Christ, knows everything about us we don’t want anyone else to know, and He still loves us.

His is a gospel of second and third chances, made possible by His atoning sacrifice.

He invites each of us to be a good Samaritan, less judgmental and more forgiving of ourselves and of each other,

even as we strive more fully to keep His commandments.

At His Inn, we become part of a gospel community centered in Jesus Christ,

anchored in restored truth, living, prophets and apostles, and another testament of Jesus Christ— the Book of Mormon.

He brings us to His Inn and also to His house—the holy temple.

We rejoice that God loves His children in our different backgrounds and circumstances, in every nation, kindred, and tongue, with room for all in His Inn. Disciples of Jesus Christ, come from everywhere, in every shape, size, hue, age, each with talents, righteous desires, and immense capacities to bless and serve.

Our Good Samaritan promises to return.

Miracles occur when we care for each other as He would.

As we create room in His Inn, welcoming all, our Good Samaritan can heal us on our dusty mortal roads.

With perfect love, our Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, promise “peace in this world and eternal life in the world to come.”