My Word Of Wisdom Personal Revelation

Disclaimer: I want to preface this post with I am LDS. A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and this is my personal interpretation of the Word of Wisdom.

As a practicing 50 year old Mormon, I grew up learning about the commandments in the Word of Wisdom. Originally given as a recommendation, we’re told that further revelation made it a commandment to be worth of the Temple blessings.

These commandments included: Don’t drink tea, coffee, alcohol, take illegal drugs, or smoke or chew tobacco.

However, as someone intrigued with health and nutrition, the REST of the Word of Wisdom always caught my attention. The drugs and alcohol never interested me. I’ve never even tasted coffee or tea, and at 50, there’s no reason for me to start drinking it.

First, the blessings! This is what I strive to be blessed with:

Wisdom! Wisdom in my relationships, my career, my business, my children, my studies. That I will be shown and understand TREASURES OF KNOWLEDGE!
Temporal salvation– that I will be delivered from the temporal things that plague me- specifically overeating, crappy eating, and relying on caffeine for every day living!

The Word of Wisdom commandments (ACCORDING TO ME FOR PERSONAL REVELATION)

5 That inasmuch as any man ^adrinketh ^bwine or strong drink among you, behold it is not good, neither meet in the sight of your Father,

Strong drink. I went to the Lord in prayer this week for Him to deliver me from my daily lack of motivation and my desire to just eat and watch YouTube, when I should be productive and working! I’ve been relying heavily on energy drinks (like Monsters and Rockstars) just to get me motivated. But I’m not sure why I keep doing it, because it does NOT in fact motivate me. I’ll drink one and then I go right back to my hands in the bottom of a cereal box and YouTube Gossip channels playing on my computer. So, as I went to the Lord in Prayer about these things, and realized that in two of the first few verses of D&C 89 it said to avoid STRONG DRINK, I could NOT deny that it includes Monsters and Rockstars. I can’t deny it! If it’s the one thing I have to sacrifice in order for God to show me how to get control over my life back, I’m going to obey.

11 Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with ^aprudence and ^bthanksgiving.

Prudence. That we eat with PRUDENCE~ who would have thought it necessary to guide us to have restraint over our eating, back in the days when people had so much less food! Did you know, the dictionary defines prudence as the ability to govern and discipline oneself? WOW! Talk about portion control, eating in moderation, NOT overeating, not eating when it’s unnecessary, not binging on spoonful’s of peanut butter. These things are NOT acting with prudence, and therefore should be avoided. God has counseled us repeatedly, including in the temple, that we are to bridle our passions. To make our appetites and passions within reason and discipline.
Thanksgiving. A brilliant book that I own is called, “Pray like a Jew”. Jumping ahead to the chapter on praying at meal time, we learn that the Jewish people have a prayer before and AFTER their meal. They thank God for the food they are about to eat, and then they thank him again for providing the food they just consumed. What a lesson to us to be more gracious to the hand that gave us our food.

My final two thoughts on taking control of my life with eliminating the “strong drinks” and eating with prudence and thanksgiving, is that “Even the weakest of saints” can do these things. We’re promised that!

We’re also promised to “Run and Not be weary, and walk and not faint”. I LOVE THOSE BLESSINGS!!