From the heart

“GIVING” streams from the heart who understands how it is to have nothing. Give because we care to impart. Giving expands the soul. When we are able to contribute to a noble cause we become part of a greater whole. To “Give” unites us all. The sole purpose is to “give” for the act of giving.

When there is nothing in our hands, we see how frail and vulnerable we are. It makes one hold on to. It draws the person back and ponder. Emptiness clears the clutter that peals the naked truth of persons, places and things as it is. The absence of something creates the space to renew oneself. Emptiness raises one’s awareness.

To experience emptiness makes us realize that the world is meant to be shared not owned. Learning to open and reach out beyond borders sets free the soul.

That the world in which we live is not mine but ours. That freedom is not absolute and power has its end. That the world we are all in is not just mine but our home.

Then we begin understand fully that to give is also to receive. That no matter how great or small, to give teaches us to reach out to other beings better or less than what we are. That when we realize the value of giving, we forget the cost but think only of the receiver. That in the end we notice that the value of giving is not in the gift but in the act of giving itself. It hurts the most when our gift is rejected because it is the extension of your soul expression.

That the true essence of giving does not come from the surplus rather when we give arising from the deepest core of our being. That the depths of our acts of charity is measured by the value of the recipient. We forget the cost of what are capable of giving up for those who truly matter. Then and

only then do we savour being in communion with the person we care for or with the rest of humanity. Simply because we become spiritually one.

In the end, it is not just what matter can contain that comprises giving. It takes something t
hat is worthwhile from you. Be it time, a gesture to appreciate, to listen, or to simply be present. No matter what you relinquish, you will always know that, “That no man is an island.” Because we are born with others not just humans but all of life and nature around.

The perfection of one’s Being is not possible being alone. As gold is tested in fire. It is in our dealings with people that help us recognize our true potential and polish the path we all have undertaken. After all the endpoint is the same – viewed by every individual uniquely. It is through the circumstances and obstacles that hinder our progress that makes us find what is divine in our struggles. Difficulties cannot be avoided as it is part of living. It takes friction to create fire. It is the process that turns every burning fire into flame.

We “Share” what is in excess but we “Give” what we have. Giving requires a deeper sense of giving up something – letting go.

True giving does not serve a personal end; that is when doing something good is expecting good karma in return. When it is done in that context it is vested interest. Giving is unconditional, hopefully. Humanity has to advance in thought and deed

Do it to advance Goodness. To let the goodness flow; means moving forward.

Whatever good we do resonates in Life around us and in the universe and it naturally comes to us in a different form when it is most needed. Needless to say that we still recognize the good deed done. All of life is immeasurable, we cannot build structures around it because Life is unpredictable by human terms. It cannot be an offshoot of our own yearnings dictated by our own desire to control or predict the course of life, judge actions or categorize people.

To give and to receive maintains mundane and celestial harmony. A dynamic exchange of expanding and taking in that makes the whole of Life breath in and out. It is what makes Life fully Alive. It is the expanding nature of human consciousness that makes us aware that there is Life above our own life that keeps the universal balance flowing.

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MARIA LOURDES A. DE VERA is an artist-author, a registered nurse and a licensed professional teacher. Known to her students and other children under her tutelage as Teacher Marielou, she is friendly, unconventional and fun. She spends time doing stuff to sustain her creative nature be it music, visual arts, literary or movement, all of which spice up her enthusiastic spirit.

She is the author of “Art and the Creation Stories”, published by Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc., a very useful book not only for educators but also for anyone who is willing to revive one’s noble calling in a life of creativity, the language of the soul together with one’s articulation of faith towards one’s salvation