"Self-Reliance" by Sister Adamson

In our ward councils we have been asked by our First Presidency to discuss and implement two principles that are needed and very important to our spiritual and temporal welfare.  The first is keeping the Sabbath Day holy.  The second is self-reliance.

I loved the talk Joyce Haverfield face in Sacrament meeting on the subject of keeping the Sabbath day holy.  She quoted Leviticus 26:2-12.  That scripture promises many blessings and protections when we obey God’s command to keep His Sabbath day sacred.  Isaiah 58:13-14 together with D&C 59, are powerful scriptures that teach a principle with a promise. If you keep the Sabbath day holy you will be blessed with temporal blessings.  D&C 59:9-15 gives the principle; 16-19 gives the Lord’s promise.

The reason I bring up the principle of keeping the Sabbath day holy first, is because it contains the Lord’s promises for temporal blessings.  The only other commandment that contains the same promises is the command to pay an honest tithe.  Temporal blessings are important if we want to be self-reliant.

But self-reliance is much more than having monies or temporal blessings.  It’s an attitude of independence that helps build self-esteem and self-respect. Elder L. Tom Perry gave a talk entitled, “Becoming Self-Reliant” in which he makes the point that after the Lord gave Nephi the commandment to construct a ship, Nephi’s first question was, “Whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten, that I may make tools to construct the ship after the manner which thou hast shown unto me?” 

Elder Perry says, “This is one of the more interesting stories we have in the scriptures because it tells of an instance in which the Lord provided help but then stepped aside to allow one of His sons to exercise his own initiative. I have sometimes wondered what would have happened if Nephi had asked the Lord for tools instead of a place to find the ore to make the tools.  I doubt the Lord would have honored Nephi’s request.”

From the beginning of time, the Lord counseled Adam that he would eat his bread by the sweat of his brow and cursed the ground for his sake.  It’s interesting to me that Adam’s need for self-reliance was one of the first directives given to him.

Elder Marion G. Romney said, “The practice of coveting and receiving unearned benefits has now become…fixed in our society…  Elections often turn on what the candidates promise to do for voters from government funds.  This practice, if universally accepted and implemented in any society, will make slaves of its citizens.”

President Henry D. Moyle spoke of those who through no reason of their own cannot be self-reliant; “This great principle does not deny to the needy nor to the poor the assistance they should have.  The wholly incapacitated, the aged, the sickly are cared for with all tenderness, but every able-bodied person is enjoined to do his utmost for himself to avoid dependence, if his own efforts can make such a course possible.”

The Lord tells us in D&C 29:34-35 that he gives no commandment to man that is temporal.  He also says man is to be “an agent unto himself.”  Man cannot be an agent unto himself if he is not self-reliant. Elder Marion G. Romney said, “Both independence and self-reliance are critical keys to our spiritual growth.  Whenever we get into a situation which threatens our self-reliance our freedom is threatened as well.  If we increase our dependence, we will find an immediate decrease in our freedom to act.”

I found a great link on the LDS website (click here) that illustrates the freedom that comes from self-reliance.  I hope you enjoy the stories of the saints learning this principle, as much as I did.  It’s amazing and inspiring.