“Generosity
is not about how much you have given, but about how little you have kept for
yourself.” – Fr. Dave Concepcion
Yesterday,
I was looking for a beautiful quote to go with the watercolor painting I just
finished to make an inspirational e-poster. And right away, God sent the
inspiration this morning. At mass, during the celebration of the Feast of Sta.
Maria Goretti, Fr. Dave repeated the above quotation which had struck me when
he said it during his homily a few days ago.
My
blog today will not be about deep reflections and thoughts or life-changing
events in my life. It will simply be a gratitude post for God’s generosities to
this Happy Solo Mom:
“Thank
you, Lord for sustaining my sanity in this pandemic through my spiritual family
in the The Feast and the new spiritual home I found in Sta. Maria Goretti.
Thank you for showing me, through them, that generosity still abounds in this world.
Thank
you for my children Jaffy and Julian (Buddy) whom You have gifted me with right
around this time many seasons ago and the generous nature You have nurtured in
them.”
Generosity
is not just about giving material things. It is about having “a heart like His
(God’s) own” (A Generous Heart from Sovereign Grace Music).
My
heart still swells with pride and joy when I remember New Year’s Day 2019, the
last day of our family’s Scandinavian trip. We were in an emergency clinic in Helsinki because Jaffy had a run-in with the hotel’s cabinet door handle and needed some
stitches on his head. I saw Buddy helping a man unpack his luggage, repack them
and assist him around. I think the man was also a tourist, has cerebral palsy and had no one with him. I was so moved by my son’s generosity
to a stranger. Generosity is kindness shown.
Generosity
is also about sharing your talents and experiences to help others be better.
Let
me share a message I posted in our Hero Independent Parents group telling them
about Jaffy’s new YouTube Kids channel, The Curious
Monster Lab:
“…By the way, he’s the one who wrote the epilogue in my book about growing up
in a solo parent family. It just goes to show that by God’s grace, solo parents
can still raise good children.” Jaffy’s mission in setting up that channel is
not only to educate children, but to help the next generation grow up to be
kind, considerate and good people. He always ends his videos with this line: “Be
brave, be kind, stay curious.”
One way we solo parents (and all parents in general) can teach our children about generosity is to be models for them, to show them how we can ease the burdens of others by sharing our time, talent, and treasures. But the best way is to constantly remind them that our solo parent family has survived difficult times because God has been generous to us all throughout our journey.
