![]() ![]() We may appropriately desire and work to receive a pay raise in our employment to better provide the necessities of life. We might want and expect a job offer, but the blessing that comes to us through heavenly windows may be greater capacity to act and change our own circumstances rather than expecting our circumstances to be changed by someone or something else. Eyes and ears of faith (see Ether 12:19) are needed, however, to recognize the spiritual gift of enhanced discernment that can empower us to identify job opportunities that many other people might overlook-or the blessing of greater personal determination to search harder and longer for a position than other people may be able or willing to do. We may need and pray for help to find suitable employment. ![]() An ungrateful person suffers in the poverty of endless discontentment (see Luke 12:15). A grateful person is rich in contentment. In like manner, spiritual illumination and perspective are poured out through the windows of heaven and into our lives as we honor the law of tithing.įor example, a subtle but significant blessing we receive is the spiritual gift of gratitude that enables our appreciation for what we have to constrain desires for what we want. Windows allow natural light to enter into a building. The imagery of the “windows” of heaven used by Malachi is most instructive. Such blessings can be discerned only if we are both spiritually attentive and observant (see 1 Corinthians 2:14). Yet some of the diverse blessings we obtain as we are obedient to this commandment are significant but subtle. Often as we teach and testify about the law of tithing, we emphasize the immediate, dramatic, and readily recognizable temporal blessings that we receive. Sister Bednar always has remembered this important lesson from her mother about the help that comes to us through the windows of heaven, as promised by Malachi in the Old Testament (see Malachi 3:10). Instead, a loving Heavenly Father had bestowed simple blessings in seemingly ordinary ways. The family had not received any sudden or obvious additions to the household income. She then related this finding to the gospel of Jesus Christ and explained to her daughter a powerful truth: as we live the law of tithing, we often receive significant but subtle blessings that are not always what we expect and easily can be overlooked. The costs for doctor visits and medicines for their family were far lower than might have been expected. One day as they reviewed together various categories of expenses, her mother noted an interesting pattern. When Sister Bednar was a young woman, her mother used the data in the ledgers to emphasize basic principles of provident living and prudent home management. The information she has collected over the years is comprehensive and informative. For decades she has accounted conscientiously for the family income and expenditures using very simple ledgers. From the earliest days of her marriage, she carefully has kept the household financial records. Sister Bednar’s mother is a faithful woman and an inspired homemaker. Lesson Number 1-Significant but Subtle Blessings I pray the Holy Ghost will confirm to each of us the truthfulness of the principles I discuss. The second lesson emphasizes the importance of tithing in the growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in all of the world. The first lesson focuses upon the blessings that come to individuals and families as they faithfully obey this commandment. I want to describe two important lessons I have learned about the law of tithing.
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