I began by saying that life can be prepared for, but planning should not overrule being prepared, as plans do not always turn out as planned. Preparation helps people make the best of what life gives them even if things don't end up going according to plan.
To my comments about needing to always be prepared because life doesn't always turn out as planned, Mom said that life is not guaranteed and had she really thought about it, she could have been better prepared for Dad's sudden illness and death.
I then talked about how D&C 88:124 says that we should not waste our time and whatever God gave us, or else we could and will lose them. Wasting our time results in us losing our time and whatever gifts God may have given us, as He will take away what we do not use.
After doing some exercises as a class to this Blessercize video that the lead students for the week found on YouTube, it was then said that exercise ties into self-reliance because exercise helps one to be healthy and one cannot be self-reliant if they are not healthy.
It was then asked of us what event has positively shaped our life in terms of self-reliance and I said that my mission, a year long service in the local Welfare Services Field Office and Bishop's Storehouse, positively shaped my life. In my mission, I learned that I could be self-reliant by gaining confidence from helping other people and feeding off their joy. I also helped others to be self-reliant through training I provided to new missionaries and also helping others who had utilized the storehouse to volunteer there so they could properly express their gratitude for it.
Mom said the event that shaped her life is knowing that we were prepared for everything that happened to our family when the 1995 flood hit High River, as we ended up having to evacuate at 5:30 in the morning and go to a friend's house that was on higher ground. Mom had a 72 hour kit prepared and we were able to take it with us when we had to leave in a hurry, Many years later when the family lived in Raymond and there was a fire on the Ridge, Mom said she helped organize and settle people at the Church and also had supplies for both people and pets prepared just in case leaving had to be done in a hurry.
I then summarized the previous concepts that had been learned in Pathways, as the lead students had summarized them during class for everyone's benefit. The previous concepts were the Learning Model/Honor Code, Disciple Leadership, Lifelong Learning, Academic Planning/Career Exploration, Decision Making, Time Management, and Information Literacy/Academic Planning.
When it came to discussing the previous concepts, Mom said that each of the lessons has strengthened her in a lot of ways and really made her think. She also said that the lessons have caused her to think how everything in her life has affected her and how it has made her a better person.
My focus then turned to D&C 29:35 and how it says that God's commandments are eternal and are given for both the body and spirit. In response to the words in D&C 29:35, Mom said that we as LDS people have the sure knowledge of not only the commandments, but also of their significance in the eternal spectrum. She said that it's something we need to consider as we have not only been taught many useful things, but that all things have a purpose. She added that God put things on the earth for the good of man.
During class, only four principles of self-reliance were touched upon: education, health, home storage, and work and I came up with how they connected to self-reliance. Education teaches you skills for work from the beginning of your life and continues to teach you useful things whether it comes from inside or outside of the classroom. Health is important as you need to be healthy in order to be self-reliant. Home Storage is needed because it helps us to take care of ourselves when circumstances don't allow us to rely on others or stores. Employment teaches people how to work whether it be through paid work, through volunteer opportunities, or even through school. People on disability or welfare that cannot work can still volunteer to show gratitude and productivity.
Mom's thoughts on Home Storage were that we might not have a lot of good stuff in our storage a lot of the time, but we have life-sustaining stuff. She once had a bishop from a storehouse tell her that food from the storehouse isn't there to sustain lifestyle, but to sustain life.
In class, we then got into groups, picked random objects from a bag, and then discussed how it related to self-reliance. The group I was in picked an umbrella and I then likened it to the four self-reliance principles that we had discussed in class. In terms of education, the umbrella teaches us how to protect ourselves from rain. In terms of health, the umbrella teaches us how to deal with a rainy day physically, mentally, and spiritually and the lesson there is to turn to whatever good thing may give us comfort in hard times. When it comes to Home Storage, an umbrella is a reminder that rainy days do come and that we are capable and commanded to prepare for them. It also teaches us that employment helps us to have a way to prepare for the rainy days when they do come.
I then read Mom three quotes that I got in class about how self-reliance intertwines with service and interdependency and that even though man can be self-reliant, nobody is good at everything. We need to be in a position where we are spiritually prepared to help others when the need arises. In terms of interdependency, we need to be willing to take time to give of ourselves and also be humble enough to accept help when we struggle, as God often offers help to us by way of others desiring to be of service. We need one another to serve as a strength to others and we need others to serve as strengths to our weaknesses and shortcomings. All of us need God to help us with that which we cannot handle on our own and with the help of each other and we especially need Christ when it comes to being able to let go of our sins and our ability to move beyond them.
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