Reading an old Welfare session of General Conference is an interesting experience. It’s very temporal and in a petit bourgeois way. Class instincts you didn’t even know you had rebel.

So it was a relief to see a talk by Spencer W. Kimball about “Family Preparedness.” At last, something about strengthening the family, instead of about food storage!

But no, the talk was all about food storage.

Obedience to the prophets, and food storage.

We encourage families to have on hand this year’s supply; and we say it over and over and over and repeat over and over the scripture of the Lord where He says, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” How empty it is as they put their spirituality, so-called, into action and call him by his important names, but fail to do the things which he says.

Living lives of creating beauty and order, and food storage/

Keep in good repair and beautify your homes, your yards, farms, and businesses. Repair the fences. Clean up and paint where needed. Keep your lawns and your gardens well-groomed. Whatever your circumstance, let your premises reflect orderliness, beauty, and happiness. Plan well and carry out your plan in an orderly and systematic manner.

Raising good children, and food storage.

What President Romney has just said is basic. Children should learn to work. Parents should not spend their nights and days trying to find something to interest their children. They should find something to occupy them and get them busy doing something that is worthwhile.

I begin to suspect that it was all one message.

I wonder what messages the prophets give these days where we think, “if only they would stop talking about X, and get to the good parts?”

Other Posts from the Welfare session of the April 1976 General Conference

• What Is Self-Reliance, and How Do We Embrace It? by Jan Tolman
• Zion, when we have built it by Marilyn Nielson