Time has come again for the practice of making and inevitably breaking New Year Resolutions. You may be thinking ‘yep and this coming year won’t be any different but what has that to do with welfare?’ Everything! The Church Welfare program is cram packed with all the usual things people make New Year Resolutions about.
Lose weight… physical health and Word of Wisdom. Save money… Resource management. Get a job or a better job… Employment. Make some new friends or maybe deal with an old issue that is holding you back…Social and Emotional Strength. Read the scriptures or pray more diligently… Spiritual strength. You get the idea.
So why not use the welfare program and the tradition of New Years resolutions to better our temporal and spiritual selves and to give ourselves some direction and purpose. Think about each of the aspects of Welfare listed below and how they apply to you now, and how you can improve on each of them. Make yourself a list of goals to meet each month, perhaps set yourself a reward at the end of the year for all your hard work in keeping and meeting your goals.
Employment: The Lord has commanded us to work and to provide for the needs of ourselves and our families (see Genesis 3:17-19, 1 Timothy 5:8; D&C 42:42; 56:17). Suitable employment also gives us opportunities to improve our talents and develop the divine attributes within us.
Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness: Storing food is an important part of becoming self-reliant. Help your family become self- reliant by beginning or improving your own storage and emergency plans. Learn what to store, how to store it and how to use and rotate it. Learn first aid and fire evacuation plans.
Education and Literacy
When we have knowledge and wisdom, we are better able to discern truth from error and make good choices. Education and literacy are also keys to personal growth, preparation for suitable employment, building strong families, service in the Church, and making a meaningful contribution to the society in which we live.
Resource Management
We should be wise stewards by exercising good judgment in managing and replenishing the resources with which the Lord has blessed us (see Matthew 25:14; 2 Nephi 9:51; D&C 59:16-21; 104:11-18, 78-79; 119). Paying Tithing, spending less than you earn, teaching children
Social and Emotional Strength
Social and emotional self-reliance is an important part of the gospel plan. No one is immune from the challenges in this life. When social or emotional problems arise, counsel and support from family members, Church leaders, and other qualified individuals can often be helpful in becoming self-reliant.
Physical Health
Our bodies are gifts from God. The Lord has commanded us to keep our bodies and minds healthy (see I Corinthians 3:16-17; D&C 88:124; 89). By doing this, we are better able to take care of our own needs and serve others.
I gratefully acknowledge the Provident living website for the above information on the aspects of Welfare and I hope you find it as useful as I have. Whatever your New Year Resolutions may be remember ‘But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you’ Matthew 6:33
Until next week it is good to be a talent developing, food storing, emergency prepared, educated, self reliant, physically active, wise steward of a Latter Day Saint.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Merry Christmas my dear Brothers and Sister, and a heartfelt hello and Merry Christmas to those dear members of the Wantirna South ward who like to read this little spot.
In keeping with last week’s theme of using the welfare program to our New Years resolution advantage, I thought we could use it to our FHE advantage as well.
Each week instead of turning to the FHE guide book for inspiration and maybe sometimes in a state of despair for help in preparing a lesson, why not turn to www.providentliving.org for inspiration.
If you still find the word ‘Welfare’ makes you cringe or if you still get a quick view of the ceiling as you roll your eyes, say this little mantra with me. Welfare is my friend. Come on give it a go, take a deep breath let it out feeling calmness fill you and say. Welfare is my friend… Welfare is my friend… Welfare is my friend…
add an ommm or two if it helps.
There are seven main parts to Welfare, eight if we add in the Deseret Industries bit.
So if we spend 4 weeks on each of the topics that is 32 weeks of FHE taken care of. I am not saying spend four consecutive weeks on each because you will have an epidemic of ill children each Monday night that need to be in bed rather than in the lounge room listening to the third week in a row of each topic. Break it up, one week discuss a part of the welfare program, the next something totally unrelated to welfare, then next week a different aspect of welfare and so on.
For instance: the whole employment section could be broken down into gospel lessons. The Lord desires us to be self-sufficient and to be employed. He also desires us to teach our children the value of hard work, so that they too will strive to self sufficient and gainfully employed. It may be combined with a lesson on finance if you give your kids pocket money for doing chores around the house.
Get the kids involved in organising some of the lessons, let them read about a topic and then present it to the rest of the family explaining what they learnt from it. Make a game of it. To teach Mr. Darcy about choosing the right when he was four I made up a game and we called it Nephites and Lamanites. I made up a bunch of cards with good choices and bad choices and some that were border line and got him to tell me which group they belonged to. Then he would get to make up a new card or two each time to show he understood. So get creative with the topics, play the food storage game: what can you store and for how long? Where do you store it? How about the ‘is it edible?’ food storage recipe game. Welfare doesn’t have to be boring. It can be fun and interesting. Mr Darcy is looking forward to the day he can practise our fire evacuation plans and climb out his bedroom window on a rope ladder. I am not looking forward to the first aid lesson that will follow it!
Make it fun for yourselves and it will be fun for your children. We can’t continue to treat it like the one aspect of the gospel we wished we could ditch or our kids will hate it too and teach their kids to hate it and their kids and so on until no one even remembers why we are supposed to do it, only that they are supposed to hate it. It is not the sort of family legacy I want to leave my kids.
I’m out of room again. So until next week remember it is good to be a Welfare embracing, game making, FHE having, and family fun loving Latter Day Saint.
Yours in preparedness
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Out with the old year and in with the new. Made your plans for next year yet? If not, never fear, you still have around twelve hours to do so. Although it is reported that Janus the Roman God of beginnings and endings was the central figure in the tradition of making a commitment to a new resolution, we can turn it back to our faith in Jesus Christ. Most of us make a list of resolutions only to find ourselves part way through January and the list already broken; sometimes beyond repair. For me it is quite frankly a lack of will power. So I did some soul searching about how I could fulfil my resolutions. The answer was simple. Turn ye to the Lord.
‘But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage.’ Mosiah 7:33
We are each of us in some way or another weak, we need to lean on the Lord, turn to the Lord and allow Him to strengthen us and help us overcome our own weaknesses and fulfill the righteous desires of our heart.
Now I know I covered this two weeks ago, but being mindful of the opportunity to recommit ourselves to some project or task or even to the Gospel I have made a checklist using the Welfare Program.
Employment:
Am I where I want to be? yes no
Can I do anything to change my employment status? yes no
What do I need to do?
___________________________________________________________________________________
How will I achieve that change?
___________________________________________________________________________________
Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness:
Is my food storage up to date? Yes no
Which areas do I need to work on most? ___________________________________________________________________________________
Education and Literacy
Can I further my education in any way that will enhance my job prospects or way of life? yes no
What can I do? ___________________________________________________________________________________
Resource Management
Am I being a wise steward with what I have? yes no
Can I improve it or make changes to my stewardship that will help me to become more self-sufficient? _____________________________________________________________________
Social and Emotional Strength
Do I have any social or emotional weaknesses? yes no
What are they? ___________________________________________________________________________________
What can I do to turn each of these weaknesses into strengths?
___________________________________________________________________________________
Physical Health
Am I treating my body like a Temple? Yes no
What areas can I improve upon? ___________________________________________________________________________________
What can I do to improve each of these areas? ___________________________________________________________________________________
Spiritual Health
What can I do to help my spiritual self to feast on the word on a more regular basis? ___________________________________________________________________________________
Congratulations you now have a list of New Year Resolutions that are in part gospel based.
I know, in the strength of the Lord thou canst do all things. Alma 20:4
In February we will be conducting our next welfare workshop, the topic will be Food Storage. So in preparation for that I would like to introduce you to the $2.coin of power.
Each time you do your grocery shopping take $2. from it and dedicate it to food storage. Whether you use it on a bag of rice or an extra can of something. Or pop it in a jar until you have enough to buy that large storage container you had your eye on. Whatever it is use it for food storage and acknowledge that it is for food storage and not just for the regular pantry top up. Even if you have to go so far as to pay for it separately it is important to you to know that it is a food storage item.
What, I think Georgia has lost the plot. You may be thinking. No I haven’t. Beginning and continuing to store food in keeping with the Lord’s commandment and the Prophet’s counsel can be hard. Sometimes it seems too big a task and you don’t even try because of it. But the magic of the $2.coin is that it is so small you will barely notice it, if at all. But the Lord will, because you are making the effort to be obedient to His word. And in return you will feel uplifted by the Spirit of the Lord for your efforts, which in turn will encourage you to more and more strivings to be faithful to the food storage plan.
Yeah but it will take me years to get my food storage that way. Ahh so what, at least you are doing it, and sometimes you may find yourself with a little extra money and can use it for food storage as well. Either way it can’t hurt to give it a go.
The next important thing to remember is that you need to find a place to store it, not just in your pantry with everything else. Whether you clear out one side the linen closet or clear some room under your bed for it. Make a space for it, and as you watch it grow you will feel better and better about it and it won’t seem so insurmountable a task. Now for some really weird advice, well maybe weird is the wrong word, but when I read about this I thought it was kind of weird even if brilliant.
The gift of food storage. Going to a wedding soon and have no idea what to get the couple? How about getting them started on their food storage. Most newly weds have very little money and may take years and years to even think about food storage, besides, what need have they for four toasters and a really ugly picture frame? A bag of wheat may seem less than regular as a gift, but we all need to start somewhere and at least your gift is really useable and helps teach them the importance of following the Lord and the Prophet’s guidance on food storage.
Look Grant, what’s that over there, has Miss Elizabeth escaped again?
Quick while he is not reading… want to know what to get the person who has everything for a birthday present? How about a month’s supply of their favourite beverage or treat. Grant loves Cottees Raspberry cordial and he is the most difficult person to buy presents for because he simply doesn’t need anything …but a months worth of raspberry cordial will ensure I am his beloved wife.
Oh no here she is, I must have been mistaken, sorry Grant.
Until next week remember it is good to be a food storing, $2.coin using, new years (gospel based) resolutin’, not another gee thanks a toaster giving but gospel strengthening, Lord abiding, thanks giving, welfare workshop attending Latter Day Saint.
Yours in preparedness
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Physical Health and Social/Emotional Strength go hand in hand when it comes to fast and testimony meetings. It isn’t a time to go hungry just because it happens to be the first Sunday in the month. If you are going hungry, you are missing the point of the fast. It is definitely not a crash diet once a month.
By fasting we are not only giving our temporal bodies a rest and a chance to regroup and be cleansed from any impurities we may put into it, we are giving our spiritual selves the chance to be in the forefront and allows us to turn to and focus on our spiritual needs.
We are each of us invited by the Lamb of God to sit down at the spiritual feast that He has provided for our nourishment. We have the opportunity to partake of His excellent word and to share our place at the table with each other by bearing our testimony of the sanctity and truthfulness of the Gospel and the divine nature of Jesus Christ.
When we take the time to stop and listen to the needs of our spiritual selves, we automatically turn ourselves fully to the Lord and are open to His instruction and guidance. By reading and studying our scriptures, praying with real intent and diligence and sharing our heartfelt love of the Saviour with each other, we can draw closer to Him and allow His love to uplift and strengthen our weaknesses, comfort us when weary, heal our troubled hearts and best of all, take His countenance upon us and let His glory shine through us and from us.
Renewing our spiritual self in turn renews our temporal selves. If our spiritual self is ailing so is our temporal self. And when our temporal selves are continuously ailing our spiritual self can find itself tapped for strength and becomes weaker and unable to guide us by the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Somewhat like the blind leading the blind.
As our temporal selves suffer (decline in physical health) we find ourselves emotionally vulnerable, we may become emotionally distraught and unable to cope with normal daily life and so withdraw from life or filled with frustration leading to anger and also causing our withdrawal from life because no one wants to be around a cranky pants. Our spiritual selves weaken and we can fall prey to the adversary and his minions, removing us from the one place we all want to be, in the Lord’s care.
So each fast and testimony meeting we have opportunity to renew our spiritual selves and to assist the Spirit in uplifting and strengthening others by sharing our testimonies, and ourselves through fasting with purpose and by praying with real intent about that purpose. You never know, your testimony may be the one thing that helps someone find the strength to turn back to the Lord and continue enduring to the end.
Like love, your testimony can grow by sharing it freely with others, you yourself will feel an outpouring of the Spirit and so will those who hear your words. If you feel you are not good with words and are too self-conscious to get up because of it, don’t be, the most beautiful testimony is a testimony of the pure heart.
I believe in Jesus Christ, He is my King and I will follow Him. He lives and through Him we shall have eternal life.
Until next week remember its good to be a testifying, Spiritual feasting, scripture reading, heartfelt praying, uplifting Latter Day Saint.
P.S. my inbox is curiously empty… share your ideas and thoughts, don’t keep ‘em to yourself we can all benefit from a fresh view.
Yours in preparedness
No comments:
Post a Comment