Deep Connections

I made an interesting connection yesterday during a conversation. Interestingly, I just realized that this connection also ties into a scripture that struck me forcefully the other day:

And they shall also be crowned with blessings from above, yea, and with commandments not a few, and with revelations in their time—they that are faithful and diligent before me. (Doctrine and Covenants 59:4 – emphasis mine)

I’m sure there are those who are familiar with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who would say that “commandments not a few” is the defining characteristic in the lives of members of the LDS church. The connection that I made mentally yesterday was about how those “commandments not a few” come.

The conversation was centered on the practice of preparedness through food storage. As we talked about the intricacies of how to store food so that it would last, rotating food that you had stored, and being physically prepared to use that food if the need arose I realized that people who do not heed the counsel to store food are never very aware of the challenges that must be overcome for effective preparedness.

People who begin storing start learning about rotating their food and the need to consume that food as at least a portion of their regular diet. Those who pursue that course of action will find that they are living in direct accordance with some of the aspects of the Word of Wisdom (often called the Lord’s Law of Health, found in Doctrine and Covenants section 89) that are often overlooked. The reason is that we don’t pay attention publicly to the counsel to eat mainly grains, and meat sparingly. When it comes to food storage it is impractical to store food for a diet that does not rely heavily on grains. If you are preparing your body to survive on your food storage by eating it (this also serves to rotate the storage so that it does not site for years unused until it is unusable) then you will be forced to make grains a substantial part of your diet even if they were not very prominent before heeding the counsel to store food.

So, food storage as an incentive to obey the Word of Wisdom more completely – that’s not something you think of every day.

4 Comments

  1. Great post. My wife and I are finally getting around to putting together a significant food storage. You are absolutely right that it requires a change in the way you eat. We’re learning that as we go.

    I had never made the connection between this and the Word of Wisdom but after reading this post I see that it should have been obvious. Thank you!

  2. I’m glad you enjoyed it. One of the things I like most about the connection is that you receive the benefit by just doing what you have to do even if you never make the mental connection.

  3. David,

    we are so hooked on sugar and meats i am not sure if i could leave these substances out of my diet, how do you find the motivation

  4. More fresh fruit makes it easier to reduce sugar (there’s a world of difference between natural sugars and processed sugars). I have found that the appeal of meat is almost exclusively in the seasonings. Beans and other legumes provide the protein that I would be getting from more meat and I find that I can even flavor rice to taste very much like meat if I feel like it so the flavor is easily replicated in other foods.

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