Self-reliance
Not to be paranoid or anything, but every once in awhile I wonder how long we could live on our food storage, if we had to. I have a friend who's bishop one Sunday challenged them to live off what they had in their house for a week. Our food storage isn't in fantastic shape, but I think I could go two weeks if I had to, maybe even a month. I'd really miss fresh milk and fresh produce, but I think we could do it. I used to imagine scenarios like this would only be necessary if there was some kind of natural disaster. But with the current economic mess, I started thinking about how long we could last if we had no income. We'd have to go to the store because we really wouldn't try to live without milk or produce, but what expenses could we cut out or cut back on? What truly are necessities? How many months could we be completely self-reliant before we had to ask for help?
Several years ago I read a talk by President Marion G. Romney entitled "The Celestial Nature of Self-Reliance." It's one of those talks that made so much sense to me that the message has stayed with me. I was happy to see it reprinted in the March 2009 Ensign. There are temporal reasons why being self-reliant is a good idea, but President Romney explains the spiritual reasons for being self-reliant. Here's a quote:
"Can we see how critical self-reliance becomes when looked upon as the prerequisite to service, when we also know service is what godhood is all about? Without self-reliance one cannot exercise these innate desires to serve. How can we give if there is nothing there? Food for the hungry cannot come from empty shelves. Money to assist the needy cannot come from an empty purse. Support and understanding cannot come from the emotionally starved. Teaching cannot come from the unlearned. And most important of all, spiritual guidance cannot come from the spiritually weak. . . . Once a person has been made whole, or self-reliant, he reaches out to aid others, and the cycle repeats itself."
I'm far from there, but that's where I'd like to be--self-reliant enough that I'm in a position where I can help others become self-reliant too.
Labels: food storage, self-reliance
posted by Harmony @ 9:30 PM
8 Comments
8 Comments:
My mom had to do that once for a challenge - the only thing they didn't have was the milk. I think we could last for a couple months, but somehow my stock of Honey Nut Cheerios is alway depleted with amazing speed...it's amazing.
That's where I'd like to be too. I need to read the whole article. Thanks for posting this!
Good Point! Since we lived in Bountiful and had a bit of extra storage room I've been trying little by little to work on the food storage as well as just the little extras, like bandaids and toothpaste, etc. It's helped just to have it even when we're a in a pinch till the next paycheck comes in. Something that always comes to mind when this topic is brought up is if we're prepared for the Big Stuff...natural disasters, etc...then we would be able to be ready for the smaller disasters...lost jobs, house fires, etc. Because we've already prepared ourselves for the worst. So I try to keep that in mind as to what would we really need in either situation. It's hard though. It sometimes feels like there is more important things to spend our time and money on. But the Prophets and other Church Leaders would be wasting their time trying to warn us about it if it wasn't very important.
How long we could live on our storage depends on how fast the kids come home.
I am a emergency preparedness specialist for my ward...there is so much to do.
My worst fear is a disaster when I am at work...and I am responsible for 30 school children.
I haven't seen the March Ensign, but the article by Pres. Romney has been in my "very favorite old articles" file for many years. I'm sure Harmony heard it more than once at a FHE. I'm so glad to hear they've reprinted it. It's pure gospel. Just wished I'd lived it better all these years.
We were forced into that experiment when Hurricane Ike visited our neighborhood last September. Thankfully, our house sustained no serious damage and we were without electricity for only 14 hours, compared to many Houstonians that had no power for weeks. Even though we were pretty blessed, our kids were out of school for 6 days and the grocery store shelves were empty for a week. We had plenty of time to prepare beforehand. After that experience, we will always have water, canned goods and two extra cans of propane for our BBQ on hand.
I've heard people quote from that article before, but I had never read it before. I really enjoyed it. I don't know what was happening in 1982 when he gave this talk, but it sure is fitting for today.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home