Keep Giving

After our Mom was laid to rest, my siblings and I were not surprised to find that she hardly had any material wealth in her home—only the necessities of everyday living. Just enough linens, dinnerware, toiletries, and groceries for her and her househelp. Even her paste jewelry was sparse.

What filled her closets were family mementos—scholastic medals of her children, letters, scrapbooks—and token gifts from friends.

In life, my mother was a giver. Nothing was too precious to give away to someone who needed it more than she did. One look at her things and we decided to give them all away, too—to those she had helped all her life. She gave most, if not all, of her time to church work and social service. There was always someone who needed her presence.

"You can have this," my sister said, handing me Mom's wrist watch with tiny rhinestones.

Mom won that watch as a door prize in our clan reunion. When she opened the box, I gasped with admiration. She smiled and immediately said, "Here, you can have it."

"No, it's yours!" I replied.

Now, with Mom gone, I was saying the same exact words to my sister, “No, it's yours!"

We didn't put it into words, but my sister and I both wanted to remember Mom for the way she lived, not for what she left behind.

We commemorate Mom's death anniversary every Easter. But it was on a Good Friday, April 18,when Jesus took her home for eternity. She was 83.

So today I remind myself of what Mom, who always sang the hymn “It Is Well with My Soul,” used to say, “Give of yourself. You can never out-give God.”

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An award-winning author, Grace Dacanay-Chong has written more than 60 published books. She has won six Palanca awards for her stories for children, four of them first prizes; was a Gawad Balagtas awardee for Children’s Literature in English (2019); received the Samsung Kids Time Authors’ Award (SKTAA) ASEAN Grand Prize for the children’s book O Mateo: Look for the Star (2016); and was a finalist in the National Book Awards and Catholic Mass Media Awards. Her one-year devotional Grace Found Me won in the inspirational category of the 2012 Gintong Aklat Awards.