Wisdom comes with age: Life lessons from my Grandma

I won a book! Yay! :)

Earlier this week, OMF Literature, a publisher of Christian Books had a little contest in connection to the list of new book titles that they will be launching next week during the 33rd Manila International Book Fair. Among the books that they were giving some free copies of was about Grand parenting.
To win a free a copy, you must share with everyone the "Greatest lesson that you learned from your grand parent/s".

So I did.

Yey Thanks OMFLit! :)

Our grandma is the most helpful, generous, sincerely concerned, and selfless woman I know and I look up to her. The lesson mentioned in my FB post tops the list. But she has a lot more wisdom to teach to her grand kids and great grand kids. Some of which she mentioned herself and some are based on my observations. Let me share with you 3 more of my favorite words of wisdom and lessons that I learned from my grandma.

1.  What sharing and giving is all about (as mentioned in my FB post).

2. My Amma always quotes from the Bible and among the verses that she shared with me, the one that I will always remember as recited by her is from Psalms 37:25 . The verse says: "I have been young, and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging bread".

The righteous, those who trusts in the Lord and obey Him, those whose faith in Him is unwavering, no matter what the situation is, good or bad, they will be sure that their Father in Heaven will never forsake or abandon them. Ever. It hit home run in my heart because I have seen my Amma walk the talk. The way she cares for her family, even for other people, her willingness to share even if there are times that she only had enough for herself, speak loudly of how her faith works. And she has years of life's journey to prove how much the Lord has blessed her and how she never kept those blessings all to herself.

3. I learned and will continue to learn how to find my niche, work and pray for it, and never lose faith in my God-given talents. I learned this by observing how my Amma's life turned out. 

Amma's passion has always been about Music. Her gift was inborn. She sings and plays the piano beautifully since she was a little girl. Years later, she graduated from The Union Theological Seminary, with a degree in Religious Education major in Music, Cum Laude. She was a music teacher from day one of her career, became a Dean at the Cathedral of Praise Music College some years later, and served several churches and schools as their choir director for many years. This is probably the shortest version of my Amma's resume. But the point is, her chosen field may have not lead her to the most lucrative career available to her during her time, but she continued to choose to follow her passion, day after day, up until her retirement. She would always share stories about how she would go from one school/church/student to the other for the whole week to earn for her family. It was not easy for her, and it does not sound easy even as she relays the story to us. But as I see it, my Amma wouldn't have it any other way. She chose to focus on doing what she is good at, took good care of her family at the same time, and retired happy, contented and thankful. Not everyone will have a chance to grab this kind of opportunity, nor will everyone decide to choose to do things they are passionate about for reasons of practicality. But I learned from Amma's dedication that with hard work and faith, it is by all means achievable. Its just up to you how to make it happen.

4. Another lesson that I have to try again and again until I finally imbibe it is: Its ok to flirt a little. ;) 

Yes you've read that right. She would sometimes ask me why I don't have a boyfriend or do I even consider getting into a relationship, much less, getting married. Each time she would ask, I would just shrug at the comment, and she would laugh. She would pout her lips and bat her lashes playfully to tell me that I should try to have that kind of demeanor, even just a tinge of it. Then it would be my turn to laugh.  ;)

But then again, hearing about my Amma's stories about her boyfriends (during and after the war! hehe), I'm sure she knows what she's talking about. She had a fair share of young love sweet love experiences in a 1930's-1940's fashion of course, until she met and married my grandfather. Their wedding was published in the newspaper and all. It was a move by my Lolo, who, by the way was a smart guy for making sure he had my Amma to be his wife, but that's another story altogether. hehe

Thanks Amma for all these lessons! You are the most interesting, vibrant, sincerely caring woman I know and I'm proud to be one of your grand children. :) Love you! :)

Our Amma Nora at 85 but looks way younger than her age. :)