Love Thy Neighbor

I wish I could say that our neighborhood is "up and coming" or "in revitalization."

Since we moved in 2 years ago we've seen the neighborhood progressively change in good and bad ways.

The Good:
*The pack of stray pit-bulls seems to have dissipated somewhat.
*We've made new friends with our neighbors Hannah and Landon (yeah for playmates!)
*No one has ever stolen from our property (without being caught red-handed).
*We have a beautiful house on nearly 1 acre with a fenced in back yard for the dogs and a garden.
*Our neighbors Cynthia and Bernie are always watching.
*The daily snow-cone truck in the summer is a God-send when pregnant.

The Bad:
*The house down the road has gone from being a cute little yellow house being rented by a sweet old lady into a complete dump. There are over 16 cars/trucks/boats in the yard (of which only 2 work). There is also a perpetual yard-sale in the front yard; there are just piles of junk in the yard and a sign everyday that says "YARD SALE." My favorite part of their yard decoration is a big sign that says "You're making me known." Really? What does that even mean???
*The home across from us is now abandoned by its previous inhabitants. But he left the yard completely trashed, and his creditors are now showing up at our doorstep asking where he moved to.
*The home behind us is now being rented out by what appears to be a group of teenage boys???
*Last night I heard 6 semi-automatic handgun shots fired right outside our front yard. Not the first time I've heard it, but definitely the closest to home its ever been.

So why am I airing all of my grievances? Because I'm frustrated, yes. Because I'm tired of looking at all the crap strewn across our neighbor's yard, yes. Because I know them, and have made an effort as a Christian to "love thy neighbor"? No.

Today Fiona fell asleep in the van. I pulled up a chair and sat in the sunlight doing my Bible study while she finished (I specifically positioned my chair so I didn't have to look at our neighborhood). I opened to 1st John 4 and started reading.

To make things easy for you, let me summarize 1st John 4 - LOVE YOUR NEIGHBORS

Urgh! But I don't want to love my neighbors!!! I want to turn them into Wake County for ordinance violations!!! I want to have the Sheriff's department have permanent posting on our corner.

Why am I having such a hard time at this? I haven't even made the effort to walk to their houses and introduce myself.

Don't get me wrong. I have some friends in the neighborhood...friends that resemble, well, me.

But Jesus doesn't call us to LOVE only people that resemble us.

I discussed this with my husband Will tonight and he made a good point -

Will - "If you were at work, and one of our neighbors showed up, would you treat them any differently than any of your other patients?"
Me - "Of course not. Its my job to give all patients equal and excellent treatment."
Will - "As a Christian, what is your job?"

Gulp.

So I asked Will to help me pray and find a way to reach out and LOVE our neighbors. Not for me, but for Jesus. Because I want them to look into our lives and say "they're making Jesus known." Now that makes sense.