This week’s General Conference Odyssey covers the April 1981 Welfare session. This was a session for leadership callings only, so the fundamental principles would trickle down to action in the wards. We don’t have this meeting anymore, unfortunately.

It was L. Tom Perry who mentioned that “a little upset in our economy” causes a sharp rise in fast-offering assistance in wards. How many economy upsets have we had? And how many more are in our future?

Our problem is that we still think we’re living in a time of prosperity. We are, compared to so many other countries in the world, but our economy is so fragile that we have to consider our prosperity as actually a mirror where we see what we want to see, but in reality, it is under so much pressure it is on the verge of shattering.

President Romney, in preparing for his talk, looked up previous General Conference talks where the original “welfare security plan” was being formulated and discussed. I found it interesting that he looked to the past for present-day counsel. Isn’t that what we do here with our General Conference Odyssey? The council received years ago is still very valid, helpful, and wise.

I’ve pulled out some quotes from each of this session’s talks as important reminders we might use as good counsel today:

President Kimball

• “Live within your means and not beyond them”
• “Let us go back to the basics and follow the fundamentals. Thus we will experience a spiritual resurgence in our lives which will help us through these tempestuous times.”

H. Burke Peterson

• “We have all entered the water. We have made the covenant.”
• “All our good deeds will not weigh in our favor if charity is lacking.”

Barbara B. Smith

• “How might Relief Society enable a woman to create an environment of optimism and adventure, while at the same time helping her stretch her dollars and resources by implementing sound economic principles in the home?”
• “We ask each Relief Society president to realize that this is not a time for cookies and punch, but for a social experience that will promote provident living.”

M. Russell Ballard

• “A good attitude produces good results, a fair attitude fair results, a poor attitude poor results.”
• “The love of work is an attitude that members of the Church must develop. In some ways, we have gone through a period of great prosperity which may, when history is written, prove to be as devastating as the Great Depression in its effect upon the attitudes of the people.”

L. Tom Perry

• “The Church welfare system was never designed or intended to care for the healthy member who, as a result of his poor management or lack of preparation, has found himself in difficulty.”
• “The home must be the heart of the welfare program. … We must teach that every family should be headed by an executive committee comprised of a husband and wife who will set aside sufficient time to plan for their family needs.”

Marion G. Romney

• “True security comes only by living the principles of the gospel.”
• “The Book of Mormon contains principles which, if we would follow them, could bring us true security in a world wracked by wickedness, fear, and a host of economic problems.”

The little upsets in our economy will continue. It is for us to find security in the gospel of Jesus Christ and lead our families to safety.