Self-Reliance and Self-Sufficiency makes us free. When you are prepared, not only can you take care of yourself, but you can help others. When the storms comes and the wind blows, you can still sleep peacefully. The more dependent you are on others, the less freedom you have.
Even though we need to be self-reliant in the world, we are nonetheless completely reliant on God, for we are nothing without Him. We must study the scriptures and the words of the prophets. We must put our trust in God and rely on him to help us provide for ourselves.
We all want to help others, but we should look at how we may be helping them. There is an old saying, “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, feed him for life.†Regarding the needs of others, we need to do the most responsible thing. We must determine if it is actually hurting others (keeping them from being self-reliant) when we do things for them.
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Years ago, a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals.
Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. “Are you a good farm hand?” the farmer asked him. “Well, I can sleep when the wind blows,” answered the little man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him.
The farm hand worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man’s work. Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand’s sleeping quarters. He shook the farm hand and yelled. “Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!” The farm hand rolled over in bed and said firmly, “No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.”
Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarps. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.
The question is how well will you sleep when the wind begins to blow?