Tithing

When I was a young child my mother was a stay-at-home mom, and she was an active member of our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints).  She wanted to follow the commandment to pay tithing but my dad was dead set against it.  When they had married she didn’t even know he was actually a member of the church which means he was obviously very inactive.  She had later met the missionaries when they were going door-to-door and was almost instantly converted.  She would have loved for my dad to have become active but he was totally against the church.  In those days men often controlled the money and gave their wives a set amount from which to run the family and household, and in my family’s case this is what happened.  She wanted to be obedient to the commandment and she also wanted the blessings that come from paying tithing so unbeknownst to my dad, she paid it on the household money he gave her. Later, after they were divorced and she was only earning minimum wage to support her kids while going to school (they didn’t have the deadbeat parent laws then and for some reason my dad didn’t feel it was necessary to pay child support), she often said that the only reason we made it was because she paid her tithing.  President Gordon B. Hinckley said “Tithing is a matter of faith, not finance” and my mom believed this was a true principle because on the very little money she earned to support a family of six she still paid her tithing faithfully. In my life I have also seen the blessings that come from paying tithing, especially when I was a very poor student at BYU.  I had very little money but I always had what I needed and I believe it was because I paid my tithing.  Tithing is a matter of faith, not finance!