Self Reliance

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September is National Preparedness Month

 

Would you be ready if there were an emergency? Be prepared: throughout September there will be activities across the country to promote emergency preparedness.

My brother’s well pump stopped working this week.

He and his family are spending several days drinking and cooking with water he had stored, and taking sponge baths. This week he will be digging a new line.

The yard workers we hired this weekend cut the line for the air conditioner. Its hot and muggy and a long weekend

This new adventure of living in the country is taking some adjustments.

I know I’m not prepared after living in a metropolitan city for seven years. Even though I felt I was self-reliant ten years ago, I have gotten lazy. I need to relearn and recommit to being prepared. I have several water containers for storing water because we have a well system and a drought. They are ready, and safe and EMPTY in the garage.

As we learn and apply the principles of self-reliance in our homes and communities, we have opportunities to care for the poor and needy and to help others become self-reliant spiritually and temporally.

Elder Robert B. Hales counseled us to become self-reliant temporally, “which includes getting a postsecondary education or vocational training, learning to work, and living within our means. By avoiding debt and saving money now, we are prepared for full-time Church service in the years to come. The purpose of both temporal and spiritual self-reliance is to get ourselves on higher ground so that we can lift others in need.”

From Our History

After the Latter-day Saints had gathered in the Salt Lake Valley, which was an isolated desert, President Brigham Young wanted them to flourish and establish permanent homes. This meant the Saints needed to learn skills that would allow them to become self-sufficient. In this effort, President Young had great trust in the capacities, talents, faithfulness, and willingness of the women, and he encouraged them in specific temporal duties. While the specific duties of Relief Society sisters are often different today, the principles remain constant:

1. Learn to love work and avoid idleness.

2. Acquire a spirit of self-sacrifice.

3. Accept personal responsibility for spiritual strength, health, education, employment, finances, food, and other life-sustaining necessities.

4. Pray for faith and courage to meet challenges.

5. Strengthen others who need assistance.

Choose something this month that will help you feel more self-reliant. I'm making pickles

Then help your neighbors.