Episode 63

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Published on:

5th May 2025

The Wisdom of Listening to your Mother

Ghia – Did you know that Wisdom is a title for Heavenly Mother? If so, then what does this say about section 89 of the Doctrine and Covenants, which is titled the WORD of Wisdom? Hum…let’s find out.

Wellness Mama Podcast: How to fix your Gut and learn your “gut type” with Dr Michael Ruscio https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-fix-your-gut-learn-your-gut-type-with-dr-michael-ruscio/id886538772?i=1000686667368

Transcript
Speaker:

Hooray, GIA here this week's host

for the Creative Spiritual Journey

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podcast where Judy and I talk about

those things that bring us joy.

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For me, I find joy by connecting

with nature, connecting with Jesus

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Christ and our heavenly parents.

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Seasonal living and all the bits of magic

and wonder I come across while navigating

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this remarkable journey we call life.

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It's May and Mother's Day is almost here.

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So I have picked a motherly

topic for today's podcast.

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This is also a topic I could talk

about for hours, so I am going

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to do my best to keep it simple.

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First, I wanna talk about

the Hebrew word for wisdom.

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I'm not an expert on this subject, So

let me quote from Janice Johnson, who

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writes for the LDS Women's Project.

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She says, Wisdom could be considered a

desirable state of mind, a gift of the

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spirit, or I think most importantly,

representative of the divine feminine.

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Significant words in the Hebrew Bibles

such as spirit, presence and wisdom are

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all grammatically feminine in Hebrew.

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If we closely read Proverbs, we should

pay attention every time Wisdom is

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personified and referenced as she, This

could just be a literary mechanism, but if

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we believe in a mother in heaven, we must

consider the possibility that it is more.

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end quote.

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Let me say that there is lots of

scholarship on this subject, and as

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Janice said, the fact that wisdom

is personified as a, she could

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simply be a literary mechanism.

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But for me, I love to think of

Heavenly Mother every time I come

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across the word wisdom in scripture.

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This leads me to my

topic for Mother's Day.

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How many of you had mothers that

told you to eat your vegetables?

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I bet all of us have This leads me to

share an infamous bit of family history.

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Back in the sixties, my husband's

mother had a contemporary, and dare

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I say, modern dining room table with

a formica top and chrome metal legs.

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The kids as they sat gathered around

this table, were told to eat their

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broccoli or they would not be excused.

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My husband's brother, Judy's husband,

hated broccoli and had been known to sit

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for hours at the table refusing to eat

the graying overcooked pile on his plate.

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But his mother was pleased to note

that with time and her persistence,

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he finally ate his broccoli.

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She believed she had taught her son well.

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I.

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Until the family was preparing

to move and picked up the table.

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Turns out the chrome legs were hollow

and that when the table was moved,

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a year's worth of dried broccoli

fell out the legs, oh, the length.

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Kids will go through not

to eat their vegetables.

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So where does the idea of wisdom being a

title for Heavenly Mother and our earthly

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mothers telling us what to eat, collide?

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That, in my opinion, would be section

89 of the Doctrine and covenants,

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which is titled The Word of Wisdom,

the word of Heavenly Mother.

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And doesn't it make sense that

it would be our heavenly mother

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that would tell us how to eat?

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Maybe it's just me, but I love the idea.

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There is so much confusion about how

to eat these days with millions of

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diets telling us different things.

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I think it's amazing and wonderful that

Joseph Smith received specific revelation

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that clarifies some of the biggest modern

day concerns, and I don't think it's any

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coincidence that it was Emma, a woman who

prompted Joseph to seek this revelation.

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I also don't think it was a coincidence

that Joseph titled it The Word of Wisdom.

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most of the other revelations

don't even have a title, let alone

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one As compelling as this one.

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Let me start off this topic by

saying I love to talk about food,

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but what we eat has become as taboo

a topic as religion and politics.

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Everyone has different opinions and they

will defend their opinions to the death.

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So hear me when I say I am in no

way trying to tell you how to eat

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or interpret scripture for you.

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I do not have that authority.

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How and what you eat

is between you and God.

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I am simply here to share

how I use the word of wisdom.

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These are my ideas only.

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This is what I think the

word of wisdom means for me.

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And one of the ways I believe

the word of wisdom helps me is

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by connecting me to the earth.

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The simpler I eat, the closer to the

earth I eat, the closer I feel to

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Jesus Christ and my heavenly parents.

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I also need to say that these are my

personal thoughts about the word of

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wisdom, and I reserve the right to change

my mind tomorrow if I learn something new.

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Okay?

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Okay.

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How many of you have read

the word of wisdom and felt

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like you were reading Isaiah?

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I have definitely felt that way.

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It's confusing, right?

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But now that I have been studying it for a

while, I understand it much more, at least

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what I believe God wants me to understand.

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I would love to take the time to go

through this revelation verse by verse.

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Unfortunately, that would be

too much for this podcast.

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So I just want to explain how I have

learned to use the word of wisdom,

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how I apply it to my food choices.

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in my forties, I started feeling my age.

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My body began to ache, and

I developed chronic pain.

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This sent me on a quest for answers.

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I knew the basics of the word of wisdom,

all the things we weren't supposed

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to do, and I knew there was something

about wheat for man and meat for

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famine, but the word of wisdom by itself

didn't seem like enough to solve my

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problems, and besides, it was confusing.

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This led me to look at all kinds of

diets, books, video courses, you name it.

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But you know what?

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I got more and more confused.

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Why was everyone teaching

something different and what of

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all these options would help me?

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That's when I began in earnest

to study the word of wisdom.

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Okay.

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Verse four answered one

of my first questions.

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It says, behold verily, thus

sayeth the Lord unto you.

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In consequence of evils and

designs, which do and will exist

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in the hearts of conspiring men.

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In the last days, I have warned you

and forewarned you by giving you

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this word of wisdom by revelation.

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Here is a quote from President Nelson

that I think sheds light on this verse

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quote, in giving us the gift of a body,

God has allowed us to take a vital

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step towards becoming more like him.

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Satan understands this.

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He chafes at the fact that his premortal

apostasy permanently disqualifies him

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from this privilege, leaving him in a

constant state of jealousy and resentment.

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Thus many, if not most of the temptations

he puts in our path cause us to abuse our

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bodies or the bodies of others because

Satan is miserable without a body.

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He wants us to be

miserable because of ours.

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End quote.

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I believe most, if not all of the

confusion in the world today about

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what to eat is a direct result of

Satan deliberately trying to distort

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the truth and leave us confused.

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Satan is attacking food.

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With that in mind, let's jump to the end

of the word of wisdom to verse 19 And

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ye shall find wisdom and great treasures

of knowledge, even hidden treasures.

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Treasures.

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Who doesn't want treasures?

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And what does the word treasures imply?

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I think it means you might need

to do some digging or searching.

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Finding the answers requires effort.

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These two scriptures are what I call

the bookends of the word of wisdom.

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We have Satan on one side, sowing

confusion, and Jesus Christ.

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As well as our heavenly mother on

the other side, offering wisdom and

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knowledge if we simply look for it.

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So what's in the middle

between these book ends?

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I call them the dos and don'ts.

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The dos and don'ts that God has

deemed important for us to understand.

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Now I am going to skip the don'ts because

I think we get them for the most part.

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and because I want to focus on the dos.

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This to me is where the word of wisdom

gets really interesting and helpful.

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Now I have to say I have wondered over

the years why the topic of the dues

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of the word of wisdom are rarely, if

ever brought up in our church doctrine.

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Here is what I have come to believe.

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The word of wisdom is

not meant to be dogmatic.

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This is really important.

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Please hear me say this.

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The word of wisdom can't be dogmatic.

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There are too many people who simply

finding anything to eat is a problem

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without having to question their faith.

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When doing it, a hungry

person simply needs to eat.

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There are also so many, many different

health issues these days, and they

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often require different diets to heal.

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For example, I have a friend

that has a histamine reaction.

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Sometimes the only thing she can eat

is meat, vegetables set off her body.

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That's why what you eat and how you apply,

the word of wisdom is between you and God.

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Now, I recently listened to a podcast

with a gut expert that emphasized the

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fact that when going on a restrictive

diet to heal your gut, you shouldn't have

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to stay there for the rest of your life.

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Eventually, you should be able

to eat a wider variety of foods.

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Again, love this idea.

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I will include this podcast in the

show notes in case you are interested.

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That said, I want to encourage those of

you that have relatively healthy bodies

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to see the importance, the magic, the

miracle of the word of wisdom, and realize

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it has more to offer than the don'ts.

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A lot more.

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I also have to say that I don't expect

anyone to dive in and change the way

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they eat because of this podcast.

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I believe that what we eat is one

of the most intimate things we do.

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Putting something new or

different in our bodies is hard.

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It is also extremely difficult

to change habits over the years

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as I have been working on this.

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There were times when I walked

into the grocery store and threw

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up my hands saying, I don't

even know what to eat anymore.

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No instant changes are required.

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How you eat is part of the journey,

and we are all on it together.

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So let me explain how I

use the word of wisdom.

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First of all, I visualize it as a filter,

and I only spend my time considering the

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things that make it through the filter.

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For example, if I come across a

scientific study touting the antioxidant

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benefits of drinking wine, would

it convince me to start drinking?

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No, because it doesn't get

through my word of wisdom filter.

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I.

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End of story.

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I don't even need to read the article.

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I don't care.

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On the other hand, I'm actively

searching for things that do

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make it through the filter.

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Then with the help of personal revelation,

I decide if they are right for me.

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Now in my reading of the word

of wisdom, I find four dos.

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These are different from the don'ts.

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Don't drink alcohol, don't do drugs.

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These are dos.

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What do you eat?

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I think of these four dues, kind

of like the 13 articles of faith.

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Do you recall when Joseph Smith

wrote the Articles of Faith?

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He wasn't trying to write down

everything the church believed.

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He was trying to identify what

stood out and made the doctrine

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of the Church of Jesus Christ

different from other churches.

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I think that's one way to

look at the word of wisdom.

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It doesn't cover everything

we should or shouldn't do.

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I think the things that are in it are

things that most likely stand out as

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different to the rest of the world.

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So here's my list of dos.

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Are you ready?

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Number one, eat wholesome herbs.

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Number two, eat seasonally

with Thanksgiving.

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Number three, eat meat sparingly.

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And number four, eat grains.

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Does anything on this list

set off alarm bells for you?

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If so, I am right there with you.

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Some of these go directly against

our modern eating trends, But

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you have to remember the first

bookend of the word of wisdom.

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Satan is deliberately sowing confusion.

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Let me read you the words of Sister

Tracy Browning from her talk, seeking

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answers to spiritual questions.

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And remember, if you listen to

my podcast called The Spirit Body

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Connection, you know, I believe that any

question about the body would qualify.

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as a spiritual question.

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So here's the quote.

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our personal efforts to grow in wisdom.

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Oh, there's that word, wisdom.

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Our personal efforts to grow in wisdom may

lead us to examine our questions, complex

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or otherwise, through the lens of cause

and effect, seeking out and recognizing

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patterns, And then forming narratives

to give shape to our understanding and

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fill in perceived gaps in knowledge.

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When we consider our pursuit of spiritual

knowledge, however, these thoughtful

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processes may be helpful at times, but

on their own can be incomplete as we look

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to discern things pertaining to heavenly

Father, our savior, Jesus Christ, their

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church, and their plan for all of us.

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End quote.

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I know as usual, I may

be taking liberties here.

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I am not specifically talking about

Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ,

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their church or their plan for

us, but the word of wisdom is in

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the canon of the restored gospel.

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it seems especially applicable to our

times, And I personally totally believe

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this quote applies in this instance.

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Sometimes our scientific cause and effect

research doesn't provide correct answers.

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Tracy goes on to say, God the father

and his son's way of imparting their

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wisdom to us prioritizes the power

of the Holy Ghost to be our personal

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teacher as we center Jesus Christ in

our lives and in our faithful seeking

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for their answers and their meanings.

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End quote.

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I read that quote so that if you find

the dues of the word of wisdom going

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against popular belief, you will take

the time to review your opinions,

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really study them out in your mind

with the Holy Ghost as your guide.

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I am not saying you need to change

your opinions, just make your decisions

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consciously and not because a scientific

study or a popular blogger told you to.

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Don't get me wrong, there is

plenty of evidence supporting the

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for dues of the word of wisdom.

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It's just not the most popular

or widely accepted evidence,

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which is my whole point.

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It takes digging or effort to find.

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Now I totally understand.

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Doing your own research on

the four dues of the word of

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wisdom can be a daunting task.

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That's why scattered over the next

few months, I am going to put out

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a podcast explaining what I have

learned about each of the four dos.

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Once again, I am not going

to tell you how to eat.

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I only want to share what I have found

useful in the word of wisdom for me.

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And how it connects me to the earth

and my savior and my heavenly parents.

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I am doing this with the hope that

it will inspire you to seek your own

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answers and possibly make your journey

through this life a little easier.

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So this Mother's Day, I hope you will

take a few minutes to read over the

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word of wisdom for yourself and see what

your heavenly mother has to teach you.

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Judy and I know your time is precious

and that you have many choices.

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We love that you have chosen to

walk with us for a few minutes as

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we navigate this journey of life.

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If you like this podcast, will you take

the time right now to share it with a

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friend, share it somewhere on social

media, or leave us a five star rating.

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Your efforts will help this podcast

make a bigger impact in the world

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it will also help Judy and me know

that you like our show and it will

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give us the motivation to keep going.

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Thank you in advance for your help.

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and in closing, let me say,

eating isn't about diets.

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It's about good food that

nourishes body and spirit.

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Namaste.

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About the Podcast

Creative Spiritual Journey
one small, deliberate step at a time
We are all on a journey—a journey home to our heavenly parents. Any experienced traveler knows there are days you laugh and days you cry.

We aren’t here to tell you how to live—we are here to share how we live—how we survive, thrive, and even find joy!

The journey gets messy with rainstorms and sleepless flights but the hard times—the miserable times—those make the best stories.

And the vistas, the sunsets, the little birds outside the window—those are the reminders that God is in the details, he is aware of us, he has trod the path before.

The Creative Spiritual Journey Podcast is hosted by Judy and Ghia Cooley—two sisters in their wisdom years—who love the savior and are dedicated to making this journey one small, deliberate step at a time.

Join us!

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Ghia Cooley