The Belly Blessing

During the winter months of 2004-2005 I was pregnant with my 7th child, a daughter that my husband and I planned to name Hannah. That very same winter my dear daddy was dying of pancreatic cancer. The doctors had done all that they could do for him, so they sent him home under Hospice care. One December day while visiting my parents I went into the bedroom where Daddy was lying in bed. Daddy and I chatted a while as I stood near his bed. He then turned his attention to my eight-month-pregnant belly. Daddy reached out his frail hand and rested it on my bulging abdomen. He then began to talk to the granddaughter that he would probably never meet. Speaking directly to Hannah, he tenderly said, “I love you, and I hope and pray that you will grow up to be like your mother.” Those are cherished moments when my father put his feeble hand on my stomach and gave his soon-to-be-born granddaughter the belly blessing. Hannah was born 34 days after Daddy went to heaven. God's blessing truly has been on Hannah's life. In a similar fashion before he died, Jacob of the Old Testament bestowed a blessing on his grown son, Joseph (yes, the son who as a teen wore the coat of many colors). Jacob declared that his blessings "shall be on the head of Joseph." His son would be a fruitful bough and the Almighty will “bless thee with blessings of heaven above…" (Genesis 49:22, 25-26). Jacob's deathbed blessing for his son was upon Joseph's head. My daddy's blessing for our daughter was upon my belly. But we do not have to wait until our deathbed to bestow a blessing on others. Today… think of someone to whom you may speak a blessing. Express words of encouragement into that person's life. Tell them how much they mean to you. Lovingly remind them of the potential that God has placed within them. I hope my daddy's belly blessing will spur you on to bestow a blessing upon someone in your life today.