Why Don't You Drink Coffee?

“Why Don’t You Drink Coffee?”

  

Today I visited with one of the security guards. Usually I am hurrying all around from building to building and from job to job so I rarely get to just sit and visit. Today was different; I had time before church, so I took advantage of the opportunity to talk.

Most of the guards are non-members, yet they must maintain strict personal standards on the job. These standards include no smoking, no drinking, and no coffee. The last standard is the hardest for them to keep because they work 12-hour shifts; they spend a lot of time simply sitting and watching. I couldn’t do their job.

            After we had talked about a few things, the guard asked me, “Why don’t you drink coffee and tea?”

            I ask each of you the same question! “Why don’t you as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints drink coffee?”

            This is how I answered his question: “We believe in revelation; we believe that Joseph Smith is a prophet who received counsel from the Lord that alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, and other substances are harmful to our bodies.”  I then ran into the MTC to get a copy of the Doctrine and Covenant in order to read Section 89. I bore my testimony that when we do as the Lord says, we will receive the blessings of health, wisdom, knowledge, energy, and a longer life.

After I shared my feelings with him I found a wonderful quote from President Boyd K. Packer, “The Word of Wisdom is a key to individual revelation.”

When I keep the Word of Wisdom I really can hear and feel the promptings of the quiet Holy Ghost more clearly.

When I was young I kept the Word of Wisdom because I was taught that it was a commandment. As I have gotten older I am more and more grateful for a merciful Heavenly Father who warned us and also for an earthly family that taught me this warning. I have extended family members that are addicted to harmful substances. I have seen the damage that these addictions cause. I have seen wonderful people struggle to break the habits that are so hard to change.

“Why don’t I drink coffee?”

“Because I love my Heavenly Father and want to have His spirit with me; I need His blessings for I am so weak without Him, ‘the weakest of the weak.’”

Debra Taylor 2/2012