The other day my wife Rosemary was so moved by the view of our neighbour’s roses that she could see from our dining room, that Rosemary said, “I really should tell our neighbour what a blessing they are”. The blooms were not only beautiful; they towered above the fence, creating a gorgeous sight. So I took a photo from our side and sent it to our neighbour with a text message telling her how much we were blessed by seeing her lovely flowers. At her request, her infant son replied for her with a few words of “thank you” and a dozen smiley icons.
Some time ago had given a potted rose to a friend with an interest in gardening. Less than an hour after Rosemary had suggested blessing our neighbour, we received (unexpectedly) a photo and text message from this friend who wanted Rosemary to know that it was flowering and to see the beauty of the blossom.
So Rosemary, wanting to bless someone with words and a photo of a rose, was soon rewarded and blessed with the same unexpected gesture from someone else.
Ecclesiastes 11:1 in the New Revised Standard Version says, “Send out your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will get it back”, however it took less that an hour for that to happen.
A sequel:
Today our lovely neighbour next door asked over the fence if Rosemary would like some rose blossoms that were visible from our side.
Rosemary gratefully accepted the love gift.
When she thought about arranging the flowers in a vase, she discovered our neighbour had picked no stems, just blossoms, lovely though they were.
Rosemary placed them on the table in a saucer and we were both blessed with the gift of love, however imperfect. I was reminded when I saw them that we don't have to be perfect to be a blessing. We are only asked to be genuine, to be alive and trusting in God's perfection to cover our imperfections.
Praise God for lovely neighbours.
