FOOD (stored) FOR THOUGHT:

Believe it or not, provident living and being self reliant is much more than collecting 5gallon buckets of beans.

A great quote I recently heard is “Being provident means planning ahead so you don’t have to panic.”  We all face adversity in our lives on a daily basis.  If we live providently, we will be better prepared to deal with whatever comes our way.

So what exactly is provident living? And how do we know if we are living providently?  The church has categorized self-reliance into 6 elements of preparation. They are:

* Physical Health

* Employment & Income

* Emergency Preparedness

* Financial Management

* Production and Storage of Food and Basic needs

* Spiritual, Social and Emotional Preparation

There is detailed information on these 6 areas on providentliving.org If you haven’t visited this website, it is a must!  You can find everything on there from budgeting worksheets to determining your BMI (Body Mass Index).

Tammy Price, our Stake Provident Living Specialist, said, “Our biggest hurdle in Provident Living is to stop asking ‘do I really need to do this’ and start asking ‘how do I do this for our family’?”

Obedience is crucial, if we choose not to heed the counsel of becoming more provident, we are denying the Lord to perform miracles and magnify our efforts.

Becoming more self-reliant “looks” very different for each of us.  Let the spirit guide you as to what area you need to focus.  One family might feel inspired to get out of debt.  Another family might choose to focus on emotional health.  And another may choose to start exercising.  This is so individualized; the important thing is to prayerfully create a detailed written plan.

We are asked to involve our entire family in this process.  H. David Burton said, “Each generation must learn anew the principles of provident learning.” 

This means it doesn’t matter if your mother was really great at budgeting, or you father was perfectly prepared for emergencies.  We all must learn to do it ourselves.  We can’t stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.  Nor can we expect our children to just know how to do this.  Eventually we all must learn these principles.  As we become more provident, let us take the opportunity to teach our children these skills. 

There is a caution we must heed: Don’t do too much at once!  These 6 areas are so all encompassing, so just pick one area, and work on it.

 

Russel M Nelson said, “Be patient with your self.  Perfection comes not in this life, but in the next life.  Don’t demand things that are unreasonable, but demand of yourself improvement”.

Year after year of making little changes to improve our self-reliance, we will find we ARE living more providently each year.