love thy neighbor...this afternoon was beautiful and a cool 65 degrees outside. so i decided to go for a walk outdoors instead of the usual workout at the clubhouse. i called my neighbor, laura, to invite her to walk with me. we walked and talked for about 30 minutes and then it began to get windy so we decided to head back to our street. about 30 seconds later we were running home, IN THE RAIN. the difference living here in the mountains is that when it rains, it doesn't drizzle or sprinkle, it POURS down! andy thought it would be funny to stand in the dry garage and take pictures of me.
speaking of neighbors, i've been reading what greg and cheryl have posted on their blogs and had some thoughts of my own. from my experience with people (all ages, ethnic & social backgrounds) it takes time to build a relationship before the act of service or love will be accepted. this is not to say that you can not serve someone with whom you do not have a relationship with but that either way you go about the "mission" i do believe that it is about the time invested in others. for example, i worked for several years in a girl's group home (5-18 year olds). the girl's were abused and/or neglected by their parents who were supposed to love them. they were street smart, hardened to God and the world. i, on the other hand, grew up in a loving, two parent, Christian home. i worked at this group home not because the pay or hours were good but because i felt called by God to share the love i had. i loved each and every one of them through difficult and countless hours, weeks and some of them, years. the girl's that began to trust me, first had to hate me because i had the "perfect" life. they did not trust that i truly loved them let alone a God who loved them?? i had to keep loving and serving them, in spite of being yelled at, cussed out, spit at and ducking from the things thrown across the room at me, you get the picture. in the end, the only girls who began to see a God who loves them were the ones i spent time with, listening to, caring for and developing a relationship with. another example is our community that we have in las vegas. as we grew in our love for each other and God we were able to serve others. together, we fed people, we were able to meet the needs of individuals that just one of us had constant contact with through work or family, we talked with neighbors answering questions about God. i could give many more examples but i am not trying to say that we are better than anyone else or have the answers to the questions that were posed but that it is possible to be a missional community. having said all of that, i am not convinced that there is a "DNA" or a "123" step program of how to make that happen--i am however convinced that the community we share is a gift from God.
also, i do agree that we should be watching our children love others and emulate them. for example, clay has become known in our neighborhood as "the one man welcoming committee"! if he sees a car or a moving van that is new to our street he quickly asks, without hesitation, to go over and introduce himself. we, as adults, tend to sit back and observe a little and then wait for an opportunity that we might meet at the mailbox or something similar. so now the neighbors that we do know come over and ask if clay has met any new neighbors yet. i learn so much for each of my kids. ella has no reserve in talking to strangers and people love that about her, she makes people smile. damon watches and observes people and really gets to know them, he never forgets if you've been hurt or you like or dislike something. clay is always thinking of how he can serve others--he will say, "I know what will make ____ feel really special, if I do _____ for them."
i tend to stay out of these kind of theological discussions because i see us all trying too hard to figure out the "right" way to live out the gospel, and it makes it seem too complex. maybe we get how to love others as children and then we start to question ourselves and screw it all up. i don't know all the answers or that there even is one but i am going to continue to emulate my children as they love God and others around them without regard for differences.
posted by Tera @ 11:45 PM
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