The Tribune

By AYANNA CLARKE

“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

Wait! Keep reading. I promise you this is not another article about tithing.

Language provides so many ways to communicate. We can interrogate, declare, exclaim or command. Sometimes with a cornucopia of expression or, if you’re good enough, in a few precisely placed words. Sometimes with great fervour, devious duplicity, or with ribald sarcasm. Language amazingly unlocks communication in a way that two people can say the same thing and mean something totally different.

I must say now though, however explicit or evasive, expression boils down to telling, asking, exclaiming or commanding.

To tell or declare is to impart insight or knowledge. To ask or interrogate is to request information. To exclaim is to show strong emotion about something. To command is to give an order or an instruction.

Malachi 3:10 is an imperative, an instruction, telling us that in order to gain a particular result we have got to participate in action. In other words: Desire + New Action = Results!

One of my very favourite quotes says very simply, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.” It is of course attributed to the great Albert Einstein, but there is no substantive proof that it was this genius who coined the ingenious phrase. Fact is, it doesn’t matter. Whoever said it was right – you can’t repeat the failing action in expectation of success. Something has to be done differently in order to gain a different result.

That brings me back to my idea of open windows.

Open windows, in my estimation, are opportunities for success, wholeness, healing in any area – financial, relational, familial, spiritual or otherwise. We gain inspiration from the idea in the verse that if we want the windows to open, then we have got to get to action. Not with the same steps as before, but with new ideas, fresh insight, and motivation that may have escaped us in our last attempt.

From the primary perspective, if you want a window to open, you’ve got to do something – turn an operator, release and lift, press a button. There has to be some action on your part. Of course you know where I’m going with this.

Like Malachi suggests, there has to be some doing on your part in order for results to unfold. I won’t make this tedious but let me give you my example.

No one ever knew this, but I was plagued with depression for a long time. Oh, on the outside, I was great. You would never tell that something so painful was going on inside. Then, when I did decide to share my unhappiness in order to gain spiritual insight, I found that the spiritual guidance I sought came from someone gravely unable to speak to my situation. As a result, I was lost for many years.

Growing more and more unhappy. Becoming more and more a shadow of who I could be. I was discontent, holding on for dear life, while the world continued to move without me. You may ask what changed this?

I decided to do something about it. Little did I know, but that one change changed everything. I’ve accomplished so much more and now smiling is no longer strange. In fact, I’m giggling constantly. My contentment now comes from a few ideas that I have accepted on this new path:

1. One step, no matter how shaky, is the first in a journey.

2. Your journey is not the same as anyone else’s.

3. Your journey will take you as far as you envision yourself and set goals to accomplish.

4. We are all in transit to a new us.

There is no quick fix to an open window. It all amounts to work done by us in order to gain success for us and those around us.

Have a great week!