We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. 13th Article of Faith.
I love the Articles of Faith, I could wax lyrical about how perfectly written they are not just for the age they were written in but for all ages. But I won’t. Instead I would like to focus on fourteen words.
We have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things.
Enduring all things can encompass the whole of Welfare, our physical and spiritual health, our education, employment, finances, our self-sufficiency, everything.
Often when we talk about enduring we talk about enduring to the end. So our thoughts and plans are geared towards the end. Being prepared for an event yet to come. So it is with welfare, we prepare for an event yet to come. Today however I would like to endure by looking at what is happening around us in the world and within our own shores.
On the worldwide stage we see devastating natural disasters in China, Burma and in parts of the USA. There are the on going droughts and hardships in Africa and other parts of the world. Italy is again under threat of volcanic eruptions, wars and civil unrest are breaking out across the world, terrorism is now a constant threat bringing with it, its brothers - suspicion and fear, who in turn bring their mates - violence and panic. It is pretty ugly out there.
Here within our golden shores and azure sky we fare no better really. Water is in short supply, which like on a global scale has had an impact on our food resources. Rice has gone up in price and we can expect many others to follow. The rising cost of fuel is also being felt in the supermarkets, as well as in our daily lives and budget. Another disaster sweeping the world is the loss of bees. Several theories and suggested causes have been put forward but the fact remains the same, the bees are dying which is a catastrophe for all of us. Bees help pollinate our fruits and vegetables, they provide numerous products from honey to antibiotic gels. If the bees die, we die.
Our government, like many, is slow to action in finding alternative resources for fuel and other commodities, fixing the problems we already have and in educating the populace. I believe in the articles of faith so I also follow the 12th article of faith.
‘We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.’
I sustain the law under which we live… but I don’t have to blindly sit around and wait for the government to tell me what I should do about natural or man made disasters and being prepared. I cannot live by the good old Aussie adage of ‘she’ll be right mate’ when it comes to welfare as we know it. Although the government is now starting to sporadically encourage the population to store food and other necessities, I personally don’t think it is enough.
We as Latter Day Saints are in the enviable position of having the knowledge and the guidance to be prepared, to endure the here and now as well as the end to come. But unless we get active and do it, we will, like the rest of the nation turn to the government for help and be left in the same untenable position as those poor souls in the hurricane Katrina disaster. Normally loving gentle folk turned into a savage mob, their government was unable to provide enough relief fast enough to prevent many of the follow on problems of food, shelter, disease, protection from the mobs etc.
We can be prepared; we must follow the counsel of our Prophets, both past and present. We must follow them or we will perish, whether that is physical or spiritual perishing it matters not, the end result is the same. We will stand before the Lord knowing we did nothing.
It is good to be an obedient, prepared, enduring, counsel following, Prophet heeding Latter Day Saint.
Yours in preparedness
Georgia
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