Local Priesthood Leader Message
Learning and Living Self-Reliance Principles during Challenging Times
As promised, 2020 requires each of us and our families to fasten our seatbelt and hang on through the bumps as the road has been really bumpy.
Last year I learned in the space of a few weeks that two of my cherished friends made the tragic decision to take their own lives. Neither had any direct connection to the other. Both had secretly struggled with problems related to financial solvency or financial independence. Both were otherwise faithful husbands and loving fathers.
These last several months have been difficult for many of us. The COVID-19 pandemic provided much distress and has claimed its share of lives. Because of policies and measures taken by governments in the hope of preventing the disease from spreading—and to help protect the most vulnerable—many lost their jobs or their main source of income.
While this huge challenge was an opportunity for many to give, to comfort, to succor—and even to minister—the issue of self-reliance and physical, temporal, emotional and spiritual preparedness was put in the spotlight as we consider ways to face the uncertainties of the future.
My mind is still marked by long queues of people lining up in the street—ignoring most of the basic distancing and barrier measures—waiting their turn and hoping to be given a promised bag of food or amount of cash as government assistance. While government and humanitarian assistance have clearly helped provide some relief for many needy people, we must not forget, as President Marion G. Romney (1897-1988), a former member of the First Presidency, taught, that “man has been counseled to earn his own way, thereby becoming self-reliant.” He then added, quoting Elder Albert E. Bowen (1875-1953), of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: “The true function and office of giving, is to help people [get] into a position where they can help themselves and thus be free.”1
Self-reliance is “the ability, commitment, and effort to provide the spiritual and temporal necessities of life for self and family. As members become self-reliant, they are also better able to serve and care for others.”2 Amid difficult socio-economic circumstances, self-reliance may seem to some of us as a utopic dream. The Lord however could have not been clearer when He said: “It is my purpose to provide for my saints… For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare,”3 leaving no doubt that in some way, each individual and family should have enough for their need. But in order to see this happen in our life, we need to work on it in the Lord’s way.
Elder David A. Bednar, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, taught us that two basic principles can guide and strengthen individuals facing life’s proving and trying circumstances—preparation and pressing forward with a steadfastness in Christ.4
Here is an example of those principles from my own life:
When I was a young boy, my parents decided to send me and my two younger siblings to one of the best private schools in the city where we lived. But it cost a lot to my family. My father, an engineer working for the government, and my stay-at-home mother were struggling to make ends meet. I was fully aware that the cost of my education was one of the main reasons. We not only had to learn to live frugally, but my mother also had to find every sort of activity to earn additional money, such as collecting used oil kegs or gathering fabric scraps from factories, which discarded them and then reselling them to other factories. The whole family participated in the work.
I also remember nights when we all stayed up late to help my mother as she sewed dozens of overalls for workers. These would be delivered shortly afterward to a nearby factory, which had ordered them. I still remember the pain I suffered using the scissors—too big for me and not fitted for the left-handed boy that I was. When the company which employed my father moved to the outskirts of the city, they housed us in a lodge with a very large courtyard. We then started to run a small family farm, and when not at school, each of us had to have a finger in the pie. That is how, as a teenager, I learned many farming skills—from planting different sorts of vegetables to skinning a rabbit or milking a cow. I am forever grateful to my parents to have prepared me and efficiently instilled in me the real value of money, the value of education, how to work hard, and how to live frugally.
My gratitude increased when I had to live and implement all these values to complete my long run medical studies, trying at the same time to earn my living without being a burden to my parents. I later became a member of the Church—and learning about the principles of self-reliance—I teach my own children these same principles by living them, while seeing the Lord’s hand providing for us.
During these months of lockdown, our family returned to the basics of life, and our testimonies about the importance of abiding by the principles of self-reliance have been strengthened. We experienced what it was to be spiritually self-reliant as we did our best to live the home-centered gospel study program, offered our prayers, and regularly held our weekly sacrament ordinance. We even experienced a “home-centered and school-supported education.” We were grateful to see the windows of heaven opened because of the law of tithing, as we had everything we needed, and to have enough food from our food storage when, during certain weeks, many basic food articles disappeared from grocery shelves.
The pandemic has also provided several opportunities for my children to learn to help those in need, as some of us participated in both global days of fasting—as invited by President Russell M. Nelson.5 We have more than once decided to tap into our food storage and our financial reserve to assist a few of our needy extended family and some of our neighbors and provide some relief.
I know that we all can prepare and press forward in learning the vital principles of self-reliance and work on implementing them in our life—even during difficult times. I know the Lord will provide if we do our part, as promised by President Nelson when he said “our destination is serene and secure” if we “fasten [our] seatbelt, hang on through the bumps, and, do what’s right.”6
Ifanomezana Rasolondraibe was named an Area Seventy in April 2019. He is married to Felambolafotsy Cardiss Keithy Suman Ratsitobaina; they are the parents of three children. Elder and Sister Rasolondraibe reside in Antananarivo, Madagascar.