Inspired by the First Presidency Message from the June 1984 Ensign – The Celestial Nature of Self- Reliance by Pres. Marion G Romney.

The scriptures are full of examples of people preparing…

• Noah built the ark
• The 10 Virgins prepared to meet the Bridegroom
• Lehi and his family prepared to leave Jerusalem and then to travel to the Promised Land
• The Saints prepared to travel to Zion

In each of these cases the Lord commanded individuals, families or nations to prepare themselves against disaster – both physical and spiritual. And in many cases these commands and warnings came through the Lords prophets.

The Prophets of our day have not stopped warning us of what the future may bring. They have commanded us for decades to prepare our families and ourselves for the future.

“There are many very good people who keep most of the Lord’s commandments with respect to the virtuous side of life, but who overlook His commandments in temporal things. They do not heed His warnings to prepare for a possible future emergency, … To prepare for the future is part of God’s eternal plan both spiritually and temporally.” Mark E Peterson, May 1981

When the Lord told Noah to build an Ark he gave Noah a guide, a blueprint to work from. When the Lord told Nephi to build a ship to take he and his family to the Promised Land, again the Lord gave Nephi the knowledge he needed to build the tools he needed to build the ship. Neither of these men were master ship builders. I can imagine they didn’t have the first clue where to start. And many of us find ourselves in the same place when it comes to self-reliance and personal preparedness. Thankfully the prophets have been giving us our own guide – a blueprint if you will for building our own ship/ark of self-reliance.

What it means to be self-reliant.

Here are a number of different statements from church leaders defining self-reliance that helped me better understand its depth and scope.

“Helping people help themselves"

“Self-Reliance is a prerequisite to the complete freedom to act.” – Marion G. Romney, 1984

“Preparedness, when properly pursued, is a way of life, not a sudden, spectacular program” (Spencer W. Kimball – 1976)

What are the principles of self-reliance?

Through our Prophets the Lord has outlined 6 basic principles of self-reliance: 

•     Resource management
•      Education
•      Employment
•     Home storage
•     Physical health
•     Spiritual, emotional and social well being. 

Victor L. Brown – October Conference 1976

“Home production and storage is a very necessary element of personal and family preparedness; however, it is not the only element, nor is it necessarily the most significant element.  Some people have reacted to the theme of preparedness as if it were a doomsday matter.  In reality, all six elements of personal and family preparedness are to be emphasized so that the Latter-day Saints may be better prepared to meet the ordinary, day-to-day requirements of successful living.

“Our emphasis on this subject is not grounds for crisis thinking or panic.  Quite the contrary, personal and family preparedness should be a way of provident living, an orderly approach to using the resources, gifts, and talents the Lord shares with us.  So the first step is to reach our people to be self-reliant and independent through proper preparation for daily life.”

What I find amazing about these 6 basic principles of self-reliance and the above statement by Brother Brown is this.  You cannot be self-reliant or ultimately prepared for the uncertain road before you unless you are self-reliant in all six areas.  Our challenge is to master the easy ones – what may be easy for me may be difficult for you – and not to stop there, but continue until we master all the principle of self-reliance. 

How do these principles impact our level of self-reliance/freedom?

Pres. Marion G Romney – Ensign June 1984, First Presidency Message.

“Since the beginning of time man has been counseled to earn his own way, thereby becoming self-reliant. It is easy to understand the reason the Lord places so much emphasis on this principle when we come to understand that it is tied very closely to freedom itself.”

“On this subject, Elder Albert E. Bowen said, “The Lord must want and intend that His people shall be free of constraint whether enforceable or only arising out of the bindings of conscience… That is why the Church is not satisfied with any system which leaves able people permanently dependent, and insists, on the contrary, that the true function and office of giving is to help people [get] into a position where they can help themselves and thus be free.”

“Our efforts must always be directed toward making able-bodied people self-reliant.”

“We are all self-reliant in some areas and dependant in others.  Therefore, each of us should strive to help others in areas where we have strengths.  At the same time, pride should not prevent us from graciously accepting the helping hand of another when we have a real need.  To do so denies another person the opportunity to participate in a sanctifying experience. “

The Lord has not promised that we need only be prepared with a year supply, but we must be prepared in all things.  Insuring we have adequate resources (equipment, finances, etc.) education and employment that allows us to provide for the needs of our family, home storage, physical health, and our spiritual, emotional and social well-being is stable, will allow us to calmly and effectively handle the trials and calamities we may face in the future.  Be it natural disaster – earthquake, flood, drought; economic disaster – lay-off, stock market downtrend, business slump; personal disaster – death, illness, emotional struggles. 

When we can confidently and strongly handle what comes our way, the hardship or disaster we experience will not derail us physically, emotionally or most importantly spiritually. And through the experience we will not become indefinitely dependent on friends, family, creditors or institutions.  And that freedom is better than any other.

What are the benefits of striving to be self-reliant?

“If ye are prepared ye shall not fear.” (D&C 38:30)

Spencer W. Kimball – October Conference 1977

“I like the way the R.S. teaches personal and family preparedness as “provident living.”  This implies the husbanding of our resources, the wise planning of financial matters, full provision for personal health, and adequate preparation for education and career development, giving appropriate attention to home production and storage as well as the development of emotional resiliency.

“I hope that we understand that, while having a garden, for instance is often useful in reducing food costs and making available delicious fresh fruits and vegetables, it does much more than this.  Who can gauge the value of that special chat between daughter and Dad as they weed or water the garden?  How do we evaluate the good that comes from the obvious lessons of planting, cultivating, and the eternal law of the harvest?  And how do we measure the family togetherness and cooperating that must accompany successful canning?  Yes, we are laying up resources in store, but perhaps the greater good is contained in the lessons of life we learn as we live providently and extend to our children their pioneer heritage.

“In like manner we could refer to all the components of personal and family preparedness, not in relation to holocaust or disaster, but in cultivating a lifestyle that is on a day-to-day basis its own reward.

“Let’s do these things because they are right, because they are satisfying, and because we are obedient to the counsels of the Lord.  In this spirit we will be prepared for most eventualities, and the Lord will prosper and comfort us.  It is true that difficult times will come – for the Lord has for told them – and, yes, stakes of Zion are “for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm.” (D&C 115:6)  But if we live wisely and providently, we will be as safe as in the palm of his hand. 

“But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” (1 Timothy 5:8)

How does our degree of self-reliance impact our spiritual well being? 

Marion G. Romney – 1983-1984 – quoting from a Conference Report October 1936

“It is something to supply clothing to the [poorly] clad, to furnish ample food to those whose table is thinly spread, to give activity to those who are fighting desperately the despair that comes from enforced idleness, but after all is said and done, the greatest blessing that will accrue from the Church [welfare program] are spiritual.  Outwardly, every act seems to be directed toward the physical: remaking of dresses and suits of clothes, canning fruits and vegetables, storing foodstuffs, choosing fertile fields for settlement – all seem strictly temporal, but permeating all these acts, inspiring and sanctifying them, is the element of spirituality.”

“Doctrine & Covenants 29:34-35 tells us there is no such thing as a temporal commandment, that all commandments are spiritual.  It also tells us that man is to be “an agent unto himself.”   Man cannot be an agent unto himself if he is not self-reliant.  Herein we see that independence and self-reliance are critical keys to our spiritual growth.  Whenever we get into a situation which threatens our self-reliance, we will find our freedom threatened as well.  If we increase our dependence, we will find an immediate decrease in our freedom to act.

“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.”

 “The key to making self-reliance spiritual is in using the freedom [it allow us] to comply with God’s commandments.”

“Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter unto the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 7:21)

As we read the scriptures and listen to the council of the living Prophets we will be guided and directed to the specific areas of self-reliance we need to focus on.  As we continually strive to focus on these areas we will begin to adopt new attitudes and patterns of behavior that will carry over into all aspects of our lives.  These principles of self-reliance will bolster our self-esteem, improve our quality of life, draw us closer to our father in heaven and instill in our children the importance of self-reliance and following the council of the Prophet. 

Printable Worksheet:

The Celestial Nature of Self Reliance

ADDITIONAL QUOTES: 

Neal A. Maxwell – January 1971:

Our task is to react and to notice without overacting, to let life go forward without slipping into the heedlessness of those in the days of Noah. It has been asked, and well it might be, how many of us would have jeered, or at least been privately amused, by the sight of Noah building his ark.

Presumably, the laughter and the heedlessness continued until it began to rain- and kept raining. How wet some people must have been before Noah’s ark suddenly seemed the only sane act in an insane, bewildering situation! To ponder signs without becoming paranoid, to be aware without frantically matching current events with expectations and using energy that should be spent in other ways – these are our tasks.

Spencer W. Kimball – April Conference 1976

“We encourage families to have on hand this year’s supply; we say it over and over and over and repeat over and over the scripture of the Lord where he says, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord and do not the things which I say?” How empty it is as they put their spirituality, so-called, into action and call him by his important names, but fail to do the things which he says.

J. Ruben Clark – October Conference 1980

“My dear brothers and sisters, the greatest test for any generation is how it responds to the voice of the prophets. Our prophets have admonished us to:

1. Increase our personal preparedness

2. Live within our means and get out of debt

3. Produce, can and store enough food, clothing and where possible fuel for one year

This straightforward counsel has not been followed by all of you. Some have believed and complied; others have waited until they could be sure the storm clouds were really gathering; and still others have rejected the counsel.

People respond only to what they are prepared to believe. The Brethren hesitate sometimes to talk in bold terms regarding the realities of the economy and the need for individual and family preparedness. Such talk is interpreted by the black-cloud watchers as a time of general calamity, and many stampede to the grocery stores to get ahead of the hoarders.

In April 1976 Bishop Featherstone suggested a one-year goal for members to store a year’s supply of food. Some of those who had not yet begun a home storage program rushed out and plunged deeply into debt to buy hundreds of dollars of groceries. They then sat back, as did the Prophet Jonah, to see what was going to happen to Nineveh: It was as if Brother Featherstone had officially set doomsday as April 1, 1977. This was not his intention. The Lord’s way has always been an orderly preparation, not one of second-guessing, confusion, and panic.

Finally, concerning the insufficiency of reserves, God gave a natural instinct to the animals he created to preserve their surplus against a time of need.  But man has developed the tendency to squander all that he harvests and to leave to chance or to others his satisfaction of future needs.  This is contrary to divine law.  Frugality is a principle of righteousness.  Consumption should never exceed our production.  Economic freedom comes from the surpluses we create.