2015 Theme

This year we have chosen the theme of Provident Living. We as Latter-day Saints believe in being prepared and self-reliant. We believe in preparing educationally for employment, in preparing financially for a rainy day, and in preparing temporally for natural disasters or other challenges. Most important, we believe in preparing spiritually for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and for living with our Father in Heaven again. This approach to preparedness is called provident living. In D&C 88:119 it says “Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God. Living providently reflects our true eternal nature: we are “to act for ourselves and not be acted upon” (2 Nephi 2:26) The Lord wants us to be responsible and independent. He wants us to live providently because of who we become in the process: responsible, generous, mature, kind. For the more self-reliant we are, the better we can help our families and others. How can we feed the hungry if we ourselves are hungry? How can we impart knowledge if we ourselves lack knowledge? How can we build others’ faith if we ourselves lack faith? H. Burke Peterson said, “We cannot progress without attending to our own personal and family preparedness on a regular basis. Preparedness is not something that is static; it is ever changing. I know of no situation in life where it is not necessary. May we all become involved in it for the blessing of our families. There is precious little time to waste in preparing for the eternities.” There are 6 areas of focus included in Provident Living: Education, Employment, Family Home Production and Storage, Family Finances, Health, and Spiritual Strength. During this next year the Relief Society as well as the stake will be holding several meetings to help us all live more providently. To sign up for reminders about the stake classes go to Bluffdaleready.org and enter your email address. We would like to encourage everyone to decide on some goals you can set as a family. Remember to make them manageable. Try selecting one or two to start with and work up from there. Some goals take more time than others so don’t get discouraged. Just keep moving forward. We are here to help and support you. Together we can do this! May the Lord bless you in your provident living goals. The Bluffdale 9th Ward Relief Society Presidency