Shelter in place

Thoughts on 62 days of quarantine 

“Shelter in Place”

Elder Holland explained: “The opportunity to respond to trouble and turmoil with ever-greater faith is documented over and over again in scripture—where the love of God, the sacrifice of Christ, and their many manifestations of mercy are the great constants when we face adversity of one kind or another."

"This present pandemic presents a “precious opportunity to demonstrate faith,” he said. “Often those opportunities seem rare. In our modern age we don’t have to worry about parting the Red Sea, because we have engineers that can build a bridge over it. We need some reminders from time to time that those beautifully engineered bridges can collapse, so to speak. This pandemic is just such a collapse.”

As millions across the world face “shelter-in-place” orders, Elder Holland noted that the term has both spiritual and physical implications. He said the verses in Psalm 61:1–4summarize the opportunity Latter-day Saints have to look to the Lord for shelter:

“Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.

“From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

“For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.

“I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings.”

That is “shelter at its best,” Elder Holland said, noting that society should also be obedient to the governmental directives regarding temporal sheltering as well.

“The Lord is our ultimate shelter,” he explained. “He is our tower. He lifts us out of troubled waters and places us on the rock of our Redeemer. He covers us with His wings, poetically speaking.”

Pausing to reflect on this verse of scripture, Elder Holland said quietly, “We are always talking about not having enough time to think about such things,” said Elder Holland. “Well, we have some time now.”

With that time, members can be “immersed in things of the soul that we always want to address, and know very well that we should, but sometimes in the hubbub of daily life don’t seize the opportunity to do.”

Lamenting the pace of our modern era, Elder Holland recalled, “Ralph Waldo Emerson said once, ‘Things are in the saddle and ride mankind.’”

“Let’s realize this is one of the times we can take the saddle off our backs, a time when not quite so many demands are made and we can address edifying, eternally important things.”

Con amor,

Vero

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