February 15, 2009 Relief Society spotlight on March Ensign article: "The Celestial Nature of Self-Reliance" by Pres. Marion G. Romney

Part of President Romney's talk was read to the sisters in Relief Society. The whole talk can be found on pages 61-65. Following are the excerpts that were read that day:

"Doctrine and Covenants 29: 34-35 tells us there is no such thing as a temporal commandment, that all commandments are spiritual. It also tells us that man is to be "an agent unto himself." Man cannot be an agent unto himself if he is not self-reliant. Herein we see that independence and self-reliance are critical keys to our spiritual growth. Whenever we get into a situation which threatens our self-reliance, we will find our freedom threatened as well. If we increase our dependence, we will find an immediate decrease in our freedom to act.

Thus far, we should have learned that self-reliance is a prerequisite to the complete freedom to act. We have also learned, however, that there is nothing spiritual in self-reliance unless we make the right choices with that freedom. What, then, should we do once we have become self-reliant in order to grow spiritually?

The key to making self-reliance spiritual is in using the freedom to comply with God's commandments. The scriptures are very clear in their command that it is the duty of those who have to give to those who are in need...

Once a person has been made whole, or self-reliant, he reaches out to aid others, and the cycle repeats itself....

One of the three areas emphasized in the mission of the Church is to perfect the Saints, and this is the purpose of the welfare program. This is not a doomsday program, but a program for o ur lives here and now, because now is the time for us to perfect our lives. May we continue to hold fast to these truths."