Reach for the Stars

Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening,

this post should take three to five minutes to read from start to finish.

This post focuses on a April 1981 General Conference talk and it is called, "Reach for the Stars" by Barbara B. Smith. I would like to share with you some highlights while I was reading the talk recently, and I hope you will be

able to learn something new.

Sister Smith has mentioned the following; "... We’re not only confronted with it in the media, but we experience it with virtually every purchase we make. Most Saturday afternoons my husband and I make a trip to the grocery store for our weekly supplies and food storage items. ... We discussed the high cost of food for large families with limited incomes, elderly people with small pensions, and single parents often with uncertain means.

... How might Relief Society enable a woman to create an environment of optimism and adventure, while at the same time helping her stretch her dollars and resources by implementing sound economic principles in the home? Let me point out a few mini courses each Relief Society unit might hold to help women meet this challenge:

First, home and money management -

Wise home and money management instruction should help each sister learn how to bring all expenditures within the family income. It has been thoughtfully said that we should set our scale of living one degree below our means. ... The first hard rule of fixing our scale of living below our means is to budget, planning first for basic needs and then for other desired items.

"Balancing the budget is like going to heaven. Everybody wants to
do it, but nobody wants to do what you have to do to get there."
- Phil Gramm.

We should help all women enjoy the peace of mind that comes from making and following a plan for spending. 

... Women must learn to budget and to help their children learn to budget also. Women and children should know that, no matter how important or how worthwhile an item might seem to be, if they cannot afford it, it is an unwise expenditure. ..." (Ensign, July 1975)

                                                                                  Living on a budget is not a chore - It need not even be a deprivation. Budgeting should be a great learning experience. ... We can teach women to be realistic in money management and still maintain a spirit of resourcefulness and optimism.

Next, a resource management mini course might be planned. It could enable the sisters to share ways to save energy. ... Resource management includes wise stewardship of possessions and an appreciation of the value that still remains in some used goods. 

... Other mini classes on resource management might focus on ways to take better care of clothes - how best to repair, clean, and alter them for longer wear. A mini class on laundering tips could also add to a woman’s understanding of how to add life to fabric. ... If we “make do” creatively, we don’t have to do without. We can enrich the lives of our family members at very little cost. 

A third mini course might be on healthful living. Plan ways to help the sisters save money by attaining the best health of which they are capable. Relief Society should provide training to promote physical well-being as the least expensive medical treatment. The illness you avoid costs nothing. Good health habits save money. To promote good health, women need to plan nutritious meals. Most of us could have smaller portions of food and still be healthy, but all of us should eat regular, well-balanced meals each day. ... 

One basic concept of the welfare system of the Church is to prepare for a time of emergency by careful planning. Relief Society has the capability of helping sisters further this effort by making their homes models of provident living that can meet present need and possible emergencies.

I have thought about the emergency preparation necessary when Noah’s ark was made ready. Noah must have achieved the most effective welfare planning in the history of mankind when he very carefully followed the Lord’s counsel and built the ark. His wife and their sons undoubtedly worked and planned with him so that the blessings of the Lord might be theirs. ... Noah and his family must have been able to plan and provide in such a way that they could find pleasure in their efforts (selecting just the right two of each animal), adventure in their voyage (surely there were new little furry creatures almost weekly), and joy as the splendor of the very first rainbow filled the sky, and the Lord’s promise was fulfilled.

Could we be as diligent today? Can we as women be accountable and help meet the great challenge of economic stress by our wise stewardship over that with which the Lord has blessed us? ..."

If you would like to read the whole talk now or in your own time, here's the link below.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1981/04/reach-for-the-stars

Stay Tuned until next time.