I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin, in a neighborhood with green grass, houses ½ acre apart and no fences. All the neighbors knew each other. To this day I can name the occupants of every house. In the summer we played kick the can, held outdoor plays for the parents, and had neighborhood block parties on Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day.
Iva made the birthday cakes for all the neighborhood kids. My favorite was her carrot cake. It was delicious and I compare all carrot cakes to it today. My mom would make strawberry rhubarb pie and diced hot peppers with produce from her garden and distribute one of each to everyone. The Fairbanks across the street had the best climbing tree for the kids. The Capstrans had the best pool. The Johnsons had the longest driveway and we would draw tracks on it with chalk and have bike races. During Christmas we would have “round robins” where the whole gang would go from one house to another tasting everyone’s Christmas cookies, and then end up at the last house for a party that went into the night. The kids would all gather in the basement for a sleepover.
These are the kind of neighbors that are easy to love. I am getting teary eyed remembering what a great experience it was to grow up there. But I also remember that there was a family in the next neighborhood that all the parents whispered about. As a teen I would babysit to make money and I was asked to babysit at that house once. Today we call it hoarding, I don’t know what they called it then, but I had never seen anything like it before and I instantly knew why they were the outcasts.
We all know that Jesus instructed us to love our neighbors. There are at least ten scriptures in the New Testament that mention this. And it’s easy to do when you have neighbors like I did growing up. It’s not so easy if you live next to the hoarder house, or the alcoholic, or the drug addicted teen who steals to support their habit.
I know I’m not feeling neighborly when my migraine kicks in and the loud music next door is thumping, or when the dog is barking all night, or even when I’m too tired after work to stop and have a conversation and just wave when driving by. But I’m going to make an extra effort to be a good neighbor. We never know when that kind word, or sharing a meal, can open the door to a bigger conversation…about Christ. It all begins with building a relationship.
“We love because he first loved us” 1 John 4:19
In grace and peace,
Cristi