Unexpected Blessings

 I returned last night from a trip to Virginia where I attended the funeral of my brother, Bob Blackwell.  I traveled alone and had a lot of time to reflect.  Bob was a wonderful man.  He came from  humble beginnings and developed a successful career as a bank president and consultant.  His legacy was celebrated by his family and many friends who praised his ability to encourage others, talk about anything and bring fun to their times together.  Bob married his lovely wife Gail who reigned as Miss World 1969.  They were married for 53 years.  I was able to meet his daughter and two of his grandchildren that he had told me so much about.  

I held another story in my heart.  Bob and I only met 20 years ago.  He was 60 at the time and I was 50.  My other two brothers and our extended family never knew he existed until that time.  Because he was unsure if my mother knew about his existence, he waited until her death to find us and make contact.  I will have to say this was a shock.  The father I had known and loved would never abandon a son if he had known about him.  I was unsure.  Bob told us he had been raised by his maternal grandparents and never had contact with my father but wanted to know all of us, his relatives.  When I called my oldest son, Matt,  to tell him about this encounter he sensed my anxiety.  With wisdom he said, "Mom this is not about how much your father loved you or any mistake he made.  This is about the fact that we have a loving, forgiving family and God has granted us the opportunity to offer this man closure in his life."  Wow...I asked him, "Who is your Mother?  She did a great job with you."  That is exactly what I needed to hear and from that moment we embraced Bob.  Bob and his family lived in Florida and we live in Alabama.  We visited him and he came to visit us.  We had a lot of time to get to know each other and find similarities in our lives,  His daughter had twins and so did I and my son and daughter in law.  His wife and daughter are nurses and so was I.  Bob's ability to make everyone feel special was so much like my older brother Ronnie and his sons, my nephews. They have each possessed  kindness and sincere empathy for others.  My husband would spend time talking to Bob about his life with each visit and my children loved Uncle Bob as if he had always been a part of their lives.  My thoughts were that these attributes are  blessings to me.  I love the way they love.  As I drove the winding roads of Virginia I had a lot of time to think about how this experience, meeting Bob was an unexpected blessing.  For someone I had not known all my life I felt he was a big part of my life.  I loved to talk to him and hear him say "I love you Sweetheart" each time he ended our calls. 

The painting above was done on Yupo paper.  The paper is very slick and the watercolor does not soak into it but moves around at will on the paper and creates colors and textures that I try to maneuver with my brush but most of the results is unexpected.  As I look back on the details of my life I see many similarities to this painting.  Unexpected blessings, even when the finished painting was not the plan I had  in my mind.  Such is life.  We can walk through experiences in our lives and maybe even question their worth at a particular moment in time but somewhere in the mix we find an unexpected blessing

Today in his sermon my husband read the Beatitudes from the Message translation:

You're blessed when you're at the end of  your rope.  With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you.  Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

You're blessed when you're content with just who you are - no more, no less.  That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.

You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God.  He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.

You're blessed when you care.  At the moment of being "care-full" you find yourselves cared for.

You're blessed when you get your inside world - your mind and heart-put right. That's when you can see God in the outside world.

You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight.  That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.

You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution.  The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.

Not only that - count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me.  What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable.  You can be glad when that happens - give a cheer, even!  For though they don't like it, I do!  And all heaven applauds.  And know that you are in good company  My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

You were a blessing to me Bob,  "I love you Sweetheart".