Becoming Self-Reliant

Welcome to the Neighborhood News

I believe that to do all that’s required of us in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to the best of our abilities, we need to discipline ourselves, in every facet of our lives. Let me share with you a couple of quotes that explain this thought better:

“The root of the word discipline is shared by the word disciple, suggesting to the mind the fact that conformity to the example and teachings of Jesus Christ is the ideal discipline that, coupled with His grace, forms a virtuous and morally excellent person.” (D.Todd Christofferson, “Moral Discipline,” Liahona, Nov 2009, 105–8)

“ ‘There is a tendency to equate the word discipline with the word punish, but there is a difference between these words. In English, at least, the word discipline has the same root as the word disciple. A disciple is a student, to be taught.’ (Ensign, Nov. 85, p. 65.)

"Children become disciples of their parents as they learn to trust their parents’ decisions, admire their integrity, and feel their love. As that happens, children hopefully will adopt their parents’ values and govern themselves according to those values. For this reason, it can be said that children will become disciples when their parents become disciples of Christ.” (“Teaching Children to Govern Themselves,” Ensign, Jun 1986, 36)

What does discipline have to do with self-reliance, you say? I think they’re connected. You can’t become self-reliant unless you’re disciplined in the teachings of our Savior.

Our first contributor is Barbara Salsbury, from Three P’s in a Pod. Barbara is a published author whose forte lies in personal preparedness. In her article “Self-reliant ...or is it SELF reliant?” She says: “I’m hoping that I can stir up a little bit of assessing and evaluating in how you think, which means that I am placing the responsibility for the “meat” of this article with you.”

We follow her article with a speech given in 2008 by Sylvia H. Allred, First Counselor in the General Relief Society presidency. In this talk entitled “Principles of Self-Reliance”, she starts out by saying: “The gospel of Jesus Christ requires that we take individual responsibility for our own spiritual and temporal well-being. We are expected to learn and practice principles of self-reliance.” We are supposed to learn to be self-reliant, and also pass it along, so our children can be as wise.

Our last entry comes from the archives at LDS.org. This talk was given by E. Robert D. Hales, who presented it at a worldwide training session. One of his comments is as follows: “We live in an age of entitlement. Many believe they should have all that others have—right now. Unable to delay gratification, they go into debt to buy what they cannot afford.” I don’t think that’s the kind of example we want to show our children. To be spiritually mature and self-reliant requires from us to be responsible for our actions.

To view a copy of Monday, 3 May's Neighborhood News, please click here.