Post from August 3, 2023

”👟 RSD 1192 ✅ Today’s Verse: “‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.’” — Malachi 3:10 (1+2=3:1+9=10)

The Message translation for Malachi 3:10-11: “‘Bring your full tithe to the Temple treasury so there will be ample provisions in My Temple. Test Me in this and see if I don’t open up Heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams. For My part, I will defend you against marauders, protect your wheat fields and vegetable gardens against plunderers.’ The Message of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.”

Are you good at pacing yourself? I don’t just mean with exercise—I mean with responsibilities, commitments, goals. You know, you do allllll the things at once? I do ok with pacing in these categories, but I could be better. As for running: I’m TERRIBLE at pacing. I always go (somehow) out too fast or too hard. My best runs are when I think I’m starting slow or I’m trying to take it easy. Ironically, when I start like that, the run doesn’t seem as hard, and my times don’t always suffer because I’m able to build on what I’ve done over distance and can pick up some speed. I ran outside today (I know; I know, but I was careful). I love running outside though. So, I planned a new version of an old route that has shade over about half of it (maybe just under half, but you get the idea). And, I went slowly. Today was hot. The hottest of the year, maybe? But, I could be wrong about that. Today’s photo was my “Red Badge of Courage” from today’s run (btw, don’t read that book: it’s awful…the literal worst book I’ve ever read…and I had to read “A Stillness at Appomattox” in 11th grade—that thing (all 450ish pages of it) was informative, but the experience was kind of like eating wallpaper…ergo, “The Red Badge of Courage” is worse than eating wallpaper). Today’s run was slower than normal, but it felt ok; the heat wasn’t too much. A little slower and using the shade made it possible…plus not too much distance and plenty of hydration thereafter 😉. When I began, I figured I’d do just over a mile instead of the mile and a half minimum I’ve been trying to get this year, and I could always stop if it got too much (my car was parked in the shade, and I had kept the radius small). But, the run felt ok, and I ended up at just over a mile and a half. Isn’t it weird that sometimes going smaller makes us go further? I know it should be “farther” for physical distance, but “further” is for metaphorical distance…fits, doesn’t it? Pacing, it’s a thing. In running, in life. But, pacing (all kinds) seems to be so hard for us. Especially with this “hustle culture” telling us to go hard all the time, it’s tempting to feel like if we’re not going full-throttle, we’re not really “going” at all. It can be disconcerting. Do you ever feel guilty that you’re not doing enough? I think most people with good hearts can have this tendency. Reflection on what we’re putting out there is important, but not beating ourselves up is also important. William Shakespeare once noted that “a light heart lives long,” and guilt makes a heart heavy. Heavy hearts weigh us down, and how well will we “go the distance” then?

Today’s verse is about giving 10%—literally, “tithe” comes from a word meaning “one-tenth.” Basically, the people weren’t really giving what they should, and God was redirecting them. So, reading this…just reading it quickly…will yield something like “oh, I give one-tenth, and God will make me Elon Musk.” No. The verse is about money and not about money at the same time. So, here’s the background. The Book of Malachi has familiar themes: the Israelites were turning away from God, things like injustice and poverty plagued their communities as a result. Malachi was a prophet (one of the guys who got the “heads up” from God to give to others), and he spent time trying to advise his people that they needed to get back on track. See, the ironic thing is that a lot of people weren’t happy with how things were going, but, instead of living by the Torah (and trying in general to do the right thing), they complained that God wasn’t helping them. Like, God would say, “Hey, do this,” and they wouldn’t…and then wonder why God wasn’t fixing things for them 🤦🏼‍♀️. Before we try to get all “high and mighty” on the Israelites, how many times have we noticed these same themes in our own lives and societies? Hmmm. Yeah, it sounds dumb that they did it, but it’s dumb that we do it too. That’s why things like prayer and asking for forgiveness and guidance are important—so we don’t get too far off track.

Back to Malachi. One of the things that God was trying to get them to fix was the way they were tithing (giving 10% of your earnings to the church). In those days, a lot of people brought sacrifices to the church via animals (they were farmers, short on cash), but these people were trending in the direction of bringing their sickly or small animals to the Temple just to go through the motions. Similarly, they fudged in the whole 10% thing, and their hearts were hardened to giving in different ways (e.g. service) too. Well, when you have a community of people doing less than the minimum, it hardly sets everyone up for success. God wanted them to find within themselves a spirit of giving. So, today’s verse talks about supporting the needs of the church (the priests salary, oil for the lamps, upkeep, the church’s outreach, that sort of thing), and our modern churches have similar needs. By giving what they could to the Temple, they were ensuring that the church could continue to do the Lord’s work. It doesn’t matter if a person can’t give much; every little bit helps, and God will help those resources to do good work for His kingdom (“‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it’”). It’s like this: when a kid gets their cell phone taken up at school, they have to pay $15 to get it back. When they’re troubleshooting saying, “I don’t have $15,” I reply, “Then, ask three people for $5.” See, $5 won’t get the phone back, but, working together, $15 will do the trick. Yeah, this was a shallow example, but the bones of it are this: things add up. So, imagine what more could add up when it’s resources for good and God working with them.

Now, we talked about the fact that this verse was both about money and not about money. See, the idea for tithing isn’t just monetary, and blessings certainly aren’t either. I once heard it said (in Mass (church)) that if someone were to give you $168 a week every week, and they ask for $1 back every week, would you give them the $1. Of course, everyone’s like “Well, yeah! I still get $167 a week out of the deal.” Well, the $168 we get every week is really the 168 hours that are in a week (you know, that God gives us), and He asks us to spend one hour (you know, the $1 in the anecdote) in Mass every week. God wants us to give some of our time to prayer and learning so that He can use those experiences to help us grow into who we’re meant to be. Similarly, tithing of your resources means giving your time and talents (your gifts) as well. 1 Peter 4:9-11 tells us, “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of [us] should use whatever gift [we] have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.” Give honestly. Give what you can, in any situation. Pace yourself; don’t overwhelm yourself with goals or guilt. Just do what you can with what you have. Just do your best. Give honestly. Give honestly to others of what’s been given to you…since God supplies it, you never have less. Give honestly of your patience. Give honestly of your problem-solving abilities. Give honestly of your bravery. Give honestly of your strength. Give honestly of your goodwill. Give honestly of your words of encouragement. Give honestly of your service. Give honestly of your compassion. Give honestly of your grace. Give honestly of your trustworthiness. Give honestly of your counsel. Give honestly of your joy. Give honestly of your determination. Give honestly of your effort. Give honestly of your love.

You might be thinking, “I don’t have a lot of time, and I’m not sure what talents I can pull from.” Personal anecdote—y’all, it’s all I’ve got right now. Well, I’m not a natural athlete, but I show up to run at least a mile every day—those days added up, and now I’m on the international registry. Here’s the point: a lot of life is just showing up. Can you show up? Even if you don’t have a lot of time, showing up for 30 minutes to volunteer for something is better than not showing up at all. Maybe you helped to set up an event for your church or your child’s school. Yeah, 30 minutes might not seem like a lot, but it’s enough time to hang up signs and banners; those banners are a pain, and setting them up is something that’s needed. You can do that. Bring scissors—the tape never tears off like it should. These events are always a lot of little somethings that are needed—they come together to make the event possible. Can’t cook? Sign up for that meal train (for a family who is taking care of a hurt or ill member) anyway. Little Caesar’s Hot n’ Ready—I think they’re like $5.55 now (inflation, am I right?)—bring by 2-3 of those (depending on the number of people), and you’ve fed a family. Do what you can.

There’s this episode of “Little House on the Prairie” (show about a small farming community in the Midwest in the late 1800s…you’re caught up) where Laura (main character, all grown up in this episode, now the town’s teacher) has to keep an apple orchard alive (an investment for her family) during a heat wave/drought while her husband is working out of town. Here’s the deal: running water—not a thing for them. So, she has to get water from the creek—oh, and she’s way pregnant. You see where this is going. She can’t fetch enough water for the orchard, and trying is making herself sick with exhaustion trying. It goes downhill the whole episode. Then, her students (the children in the town) decide to band together to help her. See, one person couldn’t fetch enough water in that heat for the orchard, but all of them together could. They spend the rest of the episode coming by faithfully, until (you’ve guessed it): rain. The orchard was going to make it. Everyone doing what they could made a huge difference for Laura, and the rain helped close the deal. Moreover, it really solidified a sense of friendship and community, and the kid who originally came up with the idea was a kid who had never really stepped up like that before (it was an important growth moment for him). Isn’t that always how these stories seem to go? People work together out of friendship and love, and some ahem outside force gives them a boost. I wonder Who sent the rain to help them out…🤔

Here’s the deal: the people in our lives and the people we share the world with can’t always water their orchards alone. We are meant to do what we can, when we can to help out. The little water we bring gives the orchard a chance to grow, and then God provides the rain that will guarantee its safety. Why doesn’t God just do it all Himself? Because, in bringing our metaphorical buckets of water to the metaphorical orchards in the world, we share friendship, we share love, we grow in our ability to love, we grow in our capacity for service, and we grow in our faith—we grow in our trust in God. Cause, as we’re trying to pace ourselves in the drought and the heat fetching water from the creek to bring to the orchard, we’re hoping and trusting that God will somehow let it be enough to accomplish the goal. We don’t have to hustle and go hard to do things; we just have to go honestly, at a pace we can manage, so that we can keep going. So, the passage in Malachi isn’t just about giving money. Malachi shows us God’s promise that, if we just keep trying, we keep doing our best to give back from what He has given us, God will do the rest, and He’ll use our efforts for great things. He’ll send rain for the orchards that we’re serving around us, and He’ll give us plenty of what we need to grow ourselves.”