Mark and I went to a wonderful training last night on the Church Welfare System. The central point was that everything we do in the church with regards to temporal support should be with the aim of helping those members learn self-reliance. I think that's a principle that gets lost because the government welfare system doesn't do that at all.
On the way home, we determined that there are really three groups of people in the church who might need or want assistance:
On the way home, we determined that there are really three groups of people in the church who might need or want assistance:
- Those who are normally self-reliant but have a very temporary issue they need help dealing with such as a job loss or illness
- Those who have chronic needs due to their lack of knowledge or application of self-reliance skills - they need to be taught those principles in addition to receiving short-term financial help. They simply lack the skills they need to get out of their situation but have a desire to do so.
- Those who simply have learned to be consumers of the world and have no interest in learning to "fish", they just want to eat.
There were several talks shown on a DVD at this training - Elder Hales spoke on self-reliance. I loved several things he said:
"Only when we are self-reliant can we truly emulate the Savior in serving and blessing others." This is so true - people who aren't taking care of themselves have a hard time serving others through visiting teaching or callings in the church. We can't be Christ-like when we are relying on others for our needs - physical or spiritual. He also said that "our ability to serve is increased or diminished by the level of our self-reliance."
He quoted President Marion G. Romney who said in 1982: "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."
Members of the church need to do all they can to be self-reliant which Elder Hales defines as, "taking responsibility for our own spiritual and temporal welfare". He also says part of self-reliance is also being able to care for those whom Heavenly Father has entrusted to our care. I would define that as our families (both immediate and extended) as well as those we are called to serve through Visiting and Home teaching and other callings. If we aren't prepared and can't take care of ourselves, then how can we ever take care of others. It's a bit like the emergency instructions you receive on an airplane prior to take-off. They tell you to put your own oxygen mask on before assisting others.
This topic has been on our minds in our home even before we went to this meeting last night. First, because there are some challenges in our lives right now that are lightened greatly by the fact that we can say that we are self-reliant in nearly every way. We stay out of debt. We purchase extra food for storage. We save money. We rely on and show gratitude to the Lord. It's true that when you are prepared, there is very little to fear.
We have also been thinking about this because we have a child who is not very self-reliant. He is more apt to cast blame for his own poor actions and create a spirit of contention and frustration in our home while he does everything to avoid taking responsibility for his failings. We look at him at his age now and then think forward 25 years and we see an adult who isn't self-reliant and is unhappy but fails to see who's really at fault. So, we are working hard to help him change his ways. That has included some pretty harsh lessons recently, but we have had to make some serious impressions on him that HE has the power to change his situation. No one is inflicting his problems on him, he is bringing them on himself by making poor choices and he alone has the power to make his situation better.
We hope that at the end and through the tough love parenting, that we raise a young man who has the strength to work out his own problems and understand that what happens to him in life is a direct result of his own current or past choices.
I hope some of the talks we heard last night will make it into lessons and other magazines. They were very good and had some excellent reminders and points about taking care of ourselves and those around us who are unable to care for themselves. But, it also made the point that the goal of every member of the church should be to take responsibility for all aspects of their lives so that they might enjoy the peace and happiness that comes with such a choice.
"Only when we are self-reliant can we truly emulate the Savior in serving and blessing others." This is so true - people who aren't taking care of themselves have a hard time serving others through visiting teaching or callings in the church. We can't be Christ-like when we are relying on others for our needs - physical or spiritual. He also said that "our ability to serve is increased or diminished by the level of our self-reliance."
He quoted President Marion G. Romney who said in 1982: "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."
Members of the church need to do all they can to be self-reliant which Elder Hales defines as, "taking responsibility for our own spiritual and temporal welfare". He also says part of self-reliance is also being able to care for those whom Heavenly Father has entrusted to our care. I would define that as our families (both immediate and extended) as well as those we are called to serve through Visiting and Home teaching and other callings. If we aren't prepared and can't take care of ourselves, then how can we ever take care of others. It's a bit like the emergency instructions you receive on an airplane prior to take-off. They tell you to put your own oxygen mask on before assisting others.
This topic has been on our minds in our home even before we went to this meeting last night. First, because there are some challenges in our lives right now that are lightened greatly by the fact that we can say that we are self-reliant in nearly every way. We stay out of debt. We purchase extra food for storage. We save money. We rely on and show gratitude to the Lord. It's true that when you are prepared, there is very little to fear.
We have also been thinking about this because we have a child who is not very self-reliant. He is more apt to cast blame for his own poor actions and create a spirit of contention and frustration in our home while he does everything to avoid taking responsibility for his failings. We look at him at his age now and then think forward 25 years and we see an adult who isn't self-reliant and is unhappy but fails to see who's really at fault. So, we are working hard to help him change his ways. That has included some pretty harsh lessons recently, but we have had to make some serious impressions on him that HE has the power to change his situation. No one is inflicting his problems on him, he is bringing them on himself by making poor choices and he alone has the power to make his situation better.
We hope that at the end and through the tough love parenting, that we raise a young man who has the strength to work out his own problems and understand that what happens to him in life is a direct result of his own current or past choices.
I hope some of the talks we heard last night will make it into lessons and other magazines. They were very good and had some excellent reminders and points about taking care of ourselves and those around us who are unable to care for themselves. But, it also made the point that the goal of every member of the church should be to take responsibility for all aspects of their lives so that they might enjoy the peace and happiness that comes with such a choice.
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