Relief Society Lesson Provident Living

Becoming Provident Providers Temporally and Spiritually
Elder Robert D. Hales
April 2009 General Conference

The Principles of Provident Living
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1. Joyfully Living within Our Means
2. Being Content with what we have
3. Avoiding Excessive Debt
4. Diligently saving and preparing for rainy-day emergencies.

“We can’t afford it, even though we want it!” or “We can afford it, but we don’t need it—and we really don’t even want it!”

The Foundation of Provident Living Is the Law of the Tithe

Establish a Family Budget

Avoid Excessive Debt

Of course some debt incurred for education, a modest home, or a basic automobile may be necessary to provide for a family.

In seeking to overcome debt and addictive behaviors, we should remember that addiction is the craving of the natural man, and it can never be satisfied. It is an insatiable appetite.

That is the end of my outline/visual aids but I also had some quotes that I use during my lesson from president Kimball. So I will add those here:

We have been counseled to participate in home food production and storage.

The Lord has urged that his people save for the rainy days, prepare for the difficult times, and put away for emergencies, a year’s supply or more of bare necessities so that when comes the flood, the earthquake, the famine, the hurricane, the storms of life, our families can be sustained through the dark days.

We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property. Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees—plant them if your climate is right for their growth. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard. Even those residing in apartments or condominiums can generally grow a little food in pots and planters. Study the best methods of providing your own foods. Make your garden as neat and attractive as well as productive. If there are children in your home, involve them in the process with assigned responsibilities.

I hope that we understand that, while having a garden … is often useful in reducing food costs and making available delicious fresh fruits and vegetables, it does much more than this. Who can gauge the value of that special chat between daughter and Dad as they weed or water the garden? How do we evaluate the good that comes from the obvious lessons of planting, cultivating, and the eternal law of the harvest? And how do we measure the family togetherness and cooperating that must accompany successful canning? Yes, we are laying up resources in store, but perhaps the greater good is contained in the lessons of life we learn as we live providently.

We encourage families to have on hand this year’s supply; and we say it over and over and over and repeat over and over the scripture of the Lord where He says, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” [Luke 6:46.] How empty it is as they put their spirituality, so-called, into action and call him by his important names, but fail to do the things which he says.

As we become more affluent and our bank accounts enlarge, there comes a feeling of security, and we feel sometimes that we do not need the supply that has been suggested by the Brethren. … We must remember that conditions could change and a year’s supply of basic commodities could be very much appreciated by us or others. So we would do well to listen to what we have been told and to follow it explicitly.
-- Spencer W. Kimball

Definition: Provident-adjective
1. Providing for future needs or events.
2. Frugal; economical.

These were all of my notes that I compiled for my lesson last month. I don't know why I didn't post this earlier I guess I thought I had done it already. You may want to go reread elder Hales talk from which this lesson was based.

One other thing I shared with my class during my lesson was an interesting tidbit I learned while watching BYU TV several weeks ago. John Bytheway was giving a talk in which he mentioned that we have been counseled by prophets for several decades to have a years supply of food on hand and to learn how to plant your own garden. Yet when Y2K rolled around and the world was telling everybody to get prepared, food storage within the church went up 800%. Isn't that ironic that members of the church will listen to the world but not to prophets of God?

That's my two cents.