Lessons Learned the Hard Way

We all make mistakes, it's one of the many things that makes us human.  
What contributes to our uniqueness, however, is how we make them and what we learn from them.  

I wish I could tell you that I am like my sister.  When she was little, my parents could tell her not to do something and she wouldn't do it.  Now I'm not saying she was perfect, because that would be far from the truth, but Shelby didn't have to experience negative consequences to learn.  She trusted that those in authority knew what was best for her and she obeyed.

I, on the other hand, was the kid that if you told me not to touch the stove, I would be more inclined to touch it just so I could figure out for myself why I shouldn't do it.  The scar from the burn would be enough to ensure I never touched it again, but without it, I would always have wondered and been tempted to touch the stove.  Sometimes seeing someone else's scar was enough to stop my questions, but not always.

I would like to say that I don't insist on having to learn lessons the hard as a thirty-one-year-old, but I'm still that little girl always needing to know the why before I act.  The main difference is that the consequences seem to hurt more the older I get.  

My most recent difficult life lesson- tithing.  I grew up being taught to tithe.  I love to give, so this hasn't been a difficult area of my life, until the past couple of years.  Due to a literal 'series of unfortunate events', finances have been tight.  As a result, I quit consistently paying 10% of my income and financial missions support.  On months that it seemed I had a little extra money I would pay them, but I was not paying them first and not paying them monthly.

Several of those closest to me stressed how vital tithing was to my financial well-being.  I've never had a patch of life where I stopped giving, so I'd never seen first-hand just how vital it is.  At the end of the summer I made a decision to pay my tithes FIRST and up my mission pledges.  I didn't even give with a good attitude; it was more of a "prove it to me God" type of giving.

That was eight months ago and I am now a very strong believer in the importance of tithing.  Since then my finances have been good, I was able to pay off my small debts (medical bills, etc) by December, and I now have eight piano students for a second income- and I haven't even advertised!

I am so glad God didn't mind the challenge to prove Himself faithful to me, and that He can handle my why attitude.



"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
-Malachi 3:10-