Windows of Heaven

I was talking to a friend the other day about being poor. Neither of our families are really poor, of course. On our missions, both of us saw what real poverty looks like, and it's not a 2-bedroom single-family home with air conditioning, a yard, and a full fridge. But nevertheless, we were talking about how our peers--those in their mid-30's with youngish families, a few years out of graduate school--seem to be moving into a place in their lives where they can buy homes, buy larger cars, go on vacations, buy consumer electronics, go out to eat, sign their kids up for dance classes and karate classes. All of those things that we don't feel like we can do because we still feel like we're on the edge of financial instability. This friend was saying that sometimes at church, people will say, "Well, if you just pay your tithing, the windows of heaven will be opened up," implying somehow that their family must not be paying tithing because otherwise BMWs and gym memberships would be raining down on their apartment complex. I haven't gotten that sense from church friends in the Morgantown area, but it made me think about what really happens when those windows of heaven open up. And it made me see that even now, during this time when Dave is job-hunting and the future is very uncertain for us, some of the clouds that are hanging low over our path are there because of the constant drizzle of generosity from so many people around us. Just last week, a friend who was moving into a new house with a new washer/dryer that couldn't take powder detergent asked if I wanted her two boxes of newly-purchased laundry soap. Yes! Later that week when our dryer broke, this same friend saw my facebook post about it and called me excitedly to tell me that they had an extra (functioning) dryer from their old place, and did we want it? That very same week, my next door neighbor came over somewhat hesitantly and told me that she had a bunch of skirts that didn't fit her anymore (she lost a lot of weight a year ago), and would I be interested in looking through them? She didn't want to offend me in any way, and I was happy to assure her, after looking through her clothes, that $200 worth of cute weekday and Sunday skirts given to me for free wasn't at all offensive. Finally, on Saturday morning I got a facebook message from a sister in the ward who is battling cancer. In the midst of her treatments, she noticed that her apple tree was bearing fruit early, and realizing that she wouldn't be able to pick them or eat them all, she thought about our family and asked me if we might want them. Dave was quickly dispatched and came back with a couple of bushels of apples that Polly has been happily munching on ever since. Now none of these people know our financial situation. They may know vaguely that Dave is job-hunting, but that's it. Yet somehow, over the course of just one week, these neighbors and friends and church members just happened to think of us and have the heart to give of their excess to our family. So has Dave been offered a six-figure book-and-movie deal to launch his dream career? No. Have we won the lottery? No. But we have the assurance of knowing that, meager though our tithing may be these days, the Lord doesn't open the windows of heaven in proportion to the size of our check. They've been open all along, and that gives me the faith during the moments when I need it to know that He will always keep them open.