Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Lenten Discipline -- April 2


Lenten discipline of the day:
introduce yourself to your neighbor

Some neighbors are easier to love than others.  You would think that Jesus would cut us some slack when it comes to being in relationship with some kinds of people. Unfortunately, Jesus is a stickler on this point about loving neighbors.  We are COMMANDED to give our best to people we find difficult to accept, much less love.  

Yikes, right?

Since we've been married, my husband and I have lived in seven different apartments/houses in three different cities, and I have to admit that we've only gotten to know our neighbors beyond a pleasant nod in two of those places.  If you ask me why, the easy, mostly-true answer would be that we were busy and hardly ever home.  The more completely honest answer would be that there have been a lot of people nearby that we just didn't like for all kinds of ridiculous reasons. 

Who is God calling you to meet?  Who is the neighbor you've avoided?