Neighbors

The Practice of Faith… What does it look like to believe? How do you practice your faith day to day? How do you share that faith, deepen faith in Christ, live that faith out in the midst of fears?

This past weekend I stepped outside to water some plants and let the dog go potty.  As I watered a neighborhood girl came over and petted my dog.  I didn’t talk to her, I continued to water my plants.  I saw her brother in a wheelchair watching.  I continued to water my plants, anxious to get back inside to my kids and out of the 90 degree sun.  As soon as she was done I rushed the dog back inside.

Only later I thought, why wasn’t I friendly?  I could have taken the dog to the wheelchair?  What a wasted opportunity for the sake of my own comfort.

Tonight a knock on the door.  A little boy asked for 4 slices of bread at 8pm for his sister.  Where was the mother?  Why didn’t she have dinner on the table for her kids before now?  These are the questions I wondered to myself.  I also know I’ll make an effort to get to know the little girl.  Maybe at Christmas I can put them on my church’s gift list for donating Christmas trees and food. 

Directly next door there was a family I had been getting to know.  I’d talked with the mom, gotten to know her kids a little, Charlotte liked playing with them but I always got annoyed because I couldn’t get her to stop when I wanted her to come back inside.  Then one day they were gone!  Just moved out without saying anything.  I guess I didn’t try very hard if I didn’t even know where they went. 

The answer is I don’t share my faith. I’d like to get better at this and look forward to more opportunities from my neighbors to be a kind and loving Christian they can count on in times of need.