Romans 13:10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the
fulfillment of the law.
Our family grew up in what was known as an inter-war house, which meant that it
was built between 1919-1939. It’s hard to describe because I’ve never seen
anything like it over here in the United States. It was a large bungalow where
four families lived. Two families, like my own, lived downstairs with front
doors and small gardens. The other two families lived upstairs with side doors
and side gardens. Everyone shared the massive backyard, which was usually used
as a common area for drying the laundry on clothes lines. Needless to say,
everyone lived in close proximity and as our family was the only young ones in
the building, we got into a lot of trouble from our neighbors for being too
loud, too boisterous, and too wild.
One particular neighbor seemed to hate my sisters and brothers because she was
always scolding us. She never smiled and was constantly criticizing my mom, who
was doing her best to raise six kids. Eventually, because of all the pressure
from this neighbor, my mother cracked and went absolutely crazy throwing things
all around the house and cursing loudly to the ceiling. I was there at the time
and thought that my mom was going to kill the woman upstairs. That’s when her
mental illness seemed to start and, to this date, it has been the saddest day of
my life.
For most of my teenage years, I found it hard to trust or respect any of my
neighbors. I thought that the upstairs family had caused my mother’s nervous
breakdown. It was only years later that I finally realized she had been
suffering from schizophrenia since she was a troubled teenager. All that my
neighbor did was bring her mental condition to the surface. No one was really to
blame. It just happened.
As Christians, we are called to be good neighbors, but in these days of privacy
and seclusion, we’re all making it very hard for people to get to know one
another. Maybe that’s why we feel lonely and vulnerable at times. Perhaps as we
isolate ourselves and do our own thing, we’re losing our connections with real
people, real neighbors, and real home owners next door.
So this Christmas, I’m going to try, if the weather allows it, to sit on my
front porch and say “Hi” to my neighbors. I guess if Jesus could leave heaven
and be on the front porch of humanity, I should try to do the same. Who knows,
perhaps then I might just experience the real meaning of Christmas.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, we all talk about being good neighbors but we don’t really
practice it. We all would like to live in a world where people greet each other
and share peace with one another, but we don’t want it to start with us. Help us
to overcome our shyness and enable us to reach out to those around us, who are
our neighbors and who are God’s children, too. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.
John Stuart traqair@aol.com
Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
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