A new, young couple in the ward spoke in sacrament meeting today (31 January 2021).  Nathan and Anna Sanders did wonderful jobs.  They are both returned missionaries, have only been in the ward two months, and explained that they had come from Hermiston and Stanfield.

At the conclusion of the meeting I went to the stand to compliment them on their talks.  I introduced myself, and then said, "I'd be willing to bet that my son is your parents' bishop."

"Is your son, Aaron?" they asked.  "He married us!"

Nathan and Anna were married in July.  It was Aaron's first opportunity to perform a wedding.  Nathan and Anna couldn't go to the temple because of temples being closed by the COVID 19 pandemic.  They weren't able to be sealed until the next month.

I sent Aaron an email telling him that I'd made the Sanders' acquaintance.  He responded by saying, "I really like them.  His dad was the high councilor to Fossil while we were there.  She got back from her mission while we were here in Stanfield.  She glowed.  She glowed even more when she started dating Nathan."

I very much enjoyed both of their talks.  Anna told of Peter's experience of walking on water.  The Savior bid Peter to come to him on the water.  Peter did fine until he took his focus off the Savior, looked about, saw the wind boisterous, had doubts, and began to sink.  He cried out, and the Savior put forth His hand and caught him.  (Matthew 14:22-23).  Anna compared Peter's experience to ours as we look about and see the current pandemic, political unrest, and other troubles.  We'll be just fine through it all if we keep our focus on Jesus.  We only begin to sink when we allow ourselves to doubt, and lose our focus.

Nathan quoted Jeffrey R. Holland from the October 2020 general conference:

"God can provide miracles instantaneously, but sooner or later we learn that the times and seasons of our mortal journey are His and His alone to direct. He administers that calendar to every one of us individually. For every infirm man healed instantly as he waits to enter the Pool of Bethesda, someone else will spend 40 years in the desert waiting to enter the promised land. For every Nephi and Lehi divinely protected by an encircling flame of fire for their faith, we have an Abinadi burned at a stake of flaming fire for his. And we remember that the same Elijah who in an instant called down fire from heaven to bear witness against the priests of Baal is the same Elijah who endured a period when there was no rain for years and who, for a time, was fed only by the skimpy sustenance that could be carried in a raven’s claw. By my estimation, that can’t have been anything we would call a 'happy meal.'”   (Ensign, November 2020, 116).

There is wonderful counsel in those words.  I took note when Elder Holland spoke them.  I remember them distinctly.  But the important message therein was apparently lost on me because I chose to instead focus upon the error that I thought they contained.  The error that I thought I detected was that ravens don't carry things in their claws.  They only carry things in their beaks.  I even wrote about this observation.  (See Ornithological Errors in That Ye May Learn Wisdom.")

What a pity that I chose to focus on that insignificant detail while ignoring Elder Holland's powerful message that was designed and intended to strengthen us through our current hardships.  I was guilty of the same tendency that I condemn in others, that of looking for the negative in people and things, and of being a fault-finder.

It is critically important that we continually look for the positive, and that we keep our focus on the Savior.