POST-AND-PRESENT ACTIVITY. OPEN THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN seek-and-say. Youth can learn the Prophet Lorenzo Snow’s revelation after reading Malachi 3:8-12 to help the saints overcome debt and drought. Praying for rain and blessings, they were to pay tithing to “open the windows of heaven.” Paying 1/10th is all the Lord asks to have Him “pour out blessings.”
Use for Young Women, Young Men, Seminary, Family Home Evening, Primary Sharing Time or Activity Days
POST-AND-PRESENT Activity
Open the Windows of Heaven seek-and-say
OBJECTIVE: Youth can present this to other youth or in family home evening. The objective is to help youth learn that if they pay their tithing, the windows of heaven will open and Heavenly Father will pour out blessings (Malachi 3:10). They will learn where their tithing money goes and the blessings it brings.
TO MAKE VISUALS: Print, color, and cut out the Windows of Heaven windows, pictures, and money-situation cards. Mount the five copied windows on a poster, then mount pictures inside windows, folding flaps as indicated on the pattern. Tape the money-situation cards at the bottom of the poster. You’ll also need ten oranges or other fruits or vegetables as part of the lesson (see Demonstration #2 that follows).
TO PRESENT: Heavenly Father has given us many great blessings and He asks us to pay only one-tenth of all we earn to build up the kingdom of God upon the earth. Tell the following story of how the windows of heaven can be opened because of paying tithing.
Story: Lorenzo Snow, a latter-day prophet, was concerned that the Church and its members were in debt, and needed help. He prayed about this problem. He was inspired to go to St. George where the Saints were suffering from a severe drought. They were praying for rain to water their crops so they would have food to eat. While there, the prophet prayed and received an answer to the promise found in Malachi 3:8–12, that if they paid their tithing, the “windows of heaven” would be opened and they would receive so many blessings there would not be enough room to receive them. They would be blessed both temporally (receive rain to water their crops) and spiritually (increase their faith and testimony). The Saints paid their tithing and the rains came—really “pouring out blessings.” We too can have the same type of blessings as we keep the law of tithing.
Demonstration 1: For every dollar, we earn we should pay one dime. For every ten dollars we earn, we should pay one dollar. For every hundred dollars we earn, we should pay ten dollars (show the money situation cards and mount them across the board to display, taking off one bill to pay to the bishop. Show a tithing envelope and demonstrate how we pay our tithing.
Demonstration 2: As money was hard to come by in the early days of the Church, the Saints paid their tithing in the form of flocks, herds, or crops rather than money. We are asked by the Lord to give one-tenth of those things (see Leviticus 27:30-32). Show children ten pieces of fruit, e.g. oranges. Say, “It is best to pay our tithing as soon as we get paid before we spend any of the money. Instead of money, let’s think of paying our tithing with oranges. If you have ten oranges, it is easy to give up just one orange when you have so many that you can eat. But what if you began eating the oranges and forgot to pay your tithing and you only had one orange left? It then becomes really hard to pay your tithing because you have to give all you have. This is why it is easier to pay our tithing first, giving Heavenly Father back 1 when He lets us keep 9; He has given us everything we have and asks us to give back only a little.
We are promised that if we pay our tithing we will always have enough food to eat, clothing to wear, and a place to live. Let’s learn about other blessings that come from paying our tithing—blessings that come to us and to others around the world.
WINDOWS OF HEAVEN SEEK-AND-SAY ACTIVITY:
1. By opening the windows on the Windows of Heaven poster, review the five ways our tithing money can bless us and others. View the pictures and say, “Our tithing money is very important because it goes to help build up the kingdom of God upon the earth. Tithing is used by the Church for many purposes.”
• BUILD TEMPLES: Our tithing money helps to build and operate temples that seal families together forever and help our ancestors who have died receive ordinances.
• BUILD CHURCHES: Our tithing helps to build and operate Church meetinghouses so we can learn about the gospel, take the sacrament, and worship.
• CHURCH MATERIALS: Our tithing money helps educate young people in Church schools, seminaries, and institutes. It helps to prepare and send lesson materials that teach members all around the world.
• FAMILY HISTORY: Our tithing money helps us gather information and records to help our ancestors. This way they can have their temple work done so they can live with their families again someday.
• MISSIONARY PROGRAM: Our tithing money helps the missionary program that preaches the gospel to the world so everyone can hear it.
2. Have children take turns choosing a bill and handing it to the leader to read the situation.
3. Then have them answer the question by opening the Windows of Heaven (paper flaps) to find the right picture (naming the blessing), e.g., BUILD TEMPLES.
4. Then have a child tell how this blessing will help in the situation, by saying, e.g., “My tithing money will HELP BUILD TEMPLES so we can do baptism for the dead.”
Option: Divide into two teams and play for points, taking turns and receiving 10 points for each one guessed right on the first try.
TO MAKE print activity in color or black and white on cardstock. Laminate. See the instructions above TO MAKE VISUALS.
TESTIMONY SHARING: Why do we pay tithing? “Paying tithing is a sacred privilege. When we pay tithing we show gratitude for all that God has given us and return to Him a portion of what we have received. Tithing is used to build temples and meetinghouses, translate and publish the scriptures, do missionary and family history work, and in other ways build God’s kingdom on earth.”
VIDEO: Windows of Heaven – This video details the story of President Lorenzo Snow when he traveled to St. George, Utah from Salt Lake City and ended up reminding the saints about the Law of Tithing. There was a drought at the time. President Snow promised the saints that the drought would end if they paid their tithing.
Source ST.2006.1
