The Word of Wisdom is the code of health that Mormons follow. It was given as a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1833. His wife Emma complained about cleaning up after all the tobacco the men would spit on the floor and asked Joseph what could be done. He prayed about it and received a revelation that admonished members of the Church to abstain from alcohol, coffee, tea, and tobacco. This is the part of the Word of Wisdom most people are familiar with, but the revelation includes many more instructions including to eat fruit "in the season thereof" and to eat meat "sparingly" and especially "in times of winter, or of cold, or famine."
As members of the Church, I think we generally do a lot better at the DO NOTs than the DO parts of the Word of Wisdom. At least, that's how it is for me. But since I have a strong aversion to meat this summer and an increased appetite for fruits in season-- especially blueberries, raspberries, and grapes--I feel like (in some ways) I'm doing a lot better at living the Word of Wisdom than normal.
On the other hand, I feel like there's a lot more I could be doing. My diet is definitely lacking in terms of vegetables and legumes. I am in no way the living model of a balanced diet. But it's good to know that God cares about our health and knows what we eat affects how we feel-- even what we do. And it's good to know that that He has given us an ideal to strive for.
The blessings promised in the Word of Wisdom are health, energy, wisdom, and even salvation. Things I need! And interestingly, the revelation also mentions that this health code is given as a means to avoid the "evil designs . . . of conspiring men." With all the crazy marketing these days for diet foods, etc. I'm not surprised.
Now that I've been on a forced "cleanse" of sorts, I hope that when my normal appetite returns, I can make wise choices about what to eat and get lots of blessings in return. :-)
1 comment:
Great post! I especially liked that you mentioned the emphasis on "don't" rather than "do". I've thought of that a lot, especially with all of our refreshments/dessert nights/etc we have to have in order to have any sort of social activity. Is that really any better than a "coffee hour"?
(Not that I'm innocent of eating waaaay too much sugar, but you know that... ) ;)
Good goals!
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