Rawlins Family

Rawlins Family

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Lately I've had something on my mind. With the state of our economy I find myself thinking back to the things our leaders have been emphasizing so much recently. They have been seriously focused on preparedness. Having our lives in order and being ready to weather any storms that life may throw at us. Recently we have received pamphlets about short and long-term food storage. We have received another about financial preparedness. We've been hearing it over and over from the pulpit and from our church news magazines. We need to be prepared as a people. We need to stop living in excess and focusing on worldly desires.

Personally, I've been hearing it but I've been slow to take to heart these messages. I've been pretty lazy in gathering my food storage. I'm sure we could live for a good month off of the food in our pantry but I promise you it would be a very sad month.

As I read and see the news reports that are growing more desperate each day I feel like the time is now. I can't put off any longer what I should have been doing all along! I need to buckle down and heed the counsel of the Lord who taught, "Organize yourselves; aprepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a bhouse of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of corder, a dhouse of God..."

While the current condition of the economy may end up turning around and we may avoid a national catastrophe I think we can all use this as a lesson to ourselves. There is danger in extending ourselves beyond our ability to pay. There is danger when we devote ourselves more to the vain and foolish things of the world, and less to the simple concerns of building a safe and happy home for our family. I truly believe that if we do all we can to follow the simple principles the Lord has outlined for us, including paying our tithing, establishing a moderate amount of food strorage and building on it, and doing our best to save what money we are able to, we will be able to enjoy a sense of peace even amidst the volatility of the world. The Lord does not desire for us to live in fear, but rather to follow after Him and His principles and find comfort and peace therein.

Obviously I have a lot of work to do. Though I feel so behind I hope that I am able to have a sustained, steady effort and build up my food, water and financial reserves. It feels like such a monumental thing - to gather food and money enough for my whole family. For a WHOLE YEAR! Thankfully, I've found some good websites. If you're interested you should really check them out. They're very helpful. The most important part seems to be having a plan. This is not something you can go about willy nilly (side note: I love any and all occasions to use the term "Willy Nilly"). Anyway, I'm providing a list of websites that I've found helpful. Hopefully you are all way ahead of me. But if you're not, here's the bandwagon. Jump on!
Provident Living
Safely Gathered In
Totally Ready
Food Storage Calculator

5 comments:

Sara K. said...

Well said. Thanks for calling me to repentance on my Budget Smudget post.

I was listening to NPR this morning and of course the focus was on the economy specifically the credit crunch and the difficulty of obtaining loans right now, business loans, home loans, etc. Everyone is concerned about the ability of people to pay back what they borrow.

In the midst of the craziness right now, I've felt at ease knowing that we do live within our means. Is there a lot of frivolous willy nilly spending? Sure and I need to do better.

I have to get out of the mindset that budgeting means sacrifice, because it doesn't it means being responsible.

I'm looking forward to conference this weekend and expect to hear many talks about preparedness. For those of you (friends, family and stalkers) who are not members of our faith, General Conference is this weekend, Saturday and Sunday (Mountain Standard Time 10-12 and 2-4). Most places can find cable TV stations that carry the broadcasts, check http://www.bonneville.info/gc_lookup.htm
for local listings. The broadcasts are also available via internet at www.lds.org and www.byutv.org. So if you have any time this weekend, come listen to a prophet's voice, you won't regret it.

chase said...

Oh, wow! I was calling MYSELF to repentance! Sara, I would never call you to repentance. You're easily one of the cheapest (in a hot, ugly way) people I know.:) That post was to call MYSELF to repentance.

Wiseguys said...

You know what, I've been thinking about the exact same thing!! Thanks for the websites. That will really help!

Unknown said...

Here's another great website to add to the list:

www.shelfreliance.com

Cris, Jon, Austin and Ethan said...

Anna, I'm so glad we are friends. You are one of those people that make you feel like a better person just by knowing them. I had a lot of fun this weekend.