Immediate Gratification?

Being self-reliant is more than merely having enough money to pay the bills and buy the groceries.  Self-reliance is a way of life; it is both temporal and spiritual.  We are to become better stewards of what the Lord has given us and like the parable of the Talents; we are to diligently seek to increase what he has given us.  When we become self-reliant we are able to not only provide for our own needs but also able aid in building the kingdom of God here on earth.

I am blessed to be apart of the Self-reliance program in my stake and we have been learning and applying principle of the gospel to become self-reliant.  This past week we were discussing budgets and how they help us be better stewards of our blessings.  We read a scripture in 2 Nephi 9:51 that says, “Do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy.”  This scripture almost sounds common sense, but I started to ponder on what I spend my money on; what I spend my labors on.  Do they have worth?  Or are they just fleeting desires and appetites?

Many times I find myself wanting things now.  That is the world we live in!  Food now, entertainment now, gratification now, blessings now.  And there is an attribute that we can develop that will aid us in putting things into a real perspective.  That is patience.  President Uchtdorf in a talk titled “Continue in Patience” says something powerful, “Patience means staying with something until the end.  It means delaying immediate gratification for future blessings.”

As we develop patience, and learn to delay immediate gratification of desires and appetites we will become more self governing and therefore be self-reliant.  Putting off buying or doing what you want now that may be of little worth for something much greater in the future is an essential principle to develop in mortality.  Patience not only applies to the principle of self-reliance but to almost every aspect of our lives.  As students we are practicing this principle.  We study, work, and put off many “entertaining” things the world has to offer with hope of better employment and greater happiness in an eternal family.  We should not lose this perspective and “labor for that which cannot satisfy.”  Patience is a principle of Godliness.