what kind of neighbor are you?

yesterday i was called anti-social by one of my neighbors. not to my face. haven't really ever talked much with this neighbor so i can see why she would think this. you might wonder why this bothers me.

well if you know the officer and i, you know that between the two of us, i am the more social one. seriously, the officer (could just be the line of work he is in), but he does NOT like crowds. he would love to move out into the country where there are not neighbors for miles around. he likes individual people, but "people" as a collective group, he's not so fond of. he's the quiet one that does not like to have any attention on him whatsoever. if you need him to do something, he will help you out and give you the shirt off his back, but don't ask him to speak in front of people. however at home, it is different. in our neighborhood, he makes it kind of a point to talk to people. he is always outside mowing the lawn, washing the cars, or washing his motorcycles. he loves doing anything outside. this gives him the opportunity to talk to our neighbors. he wants to know the people who live around us. what kind of people are they? he will help a neighbor move his two story shed across his backyard. he will lend his water hose and seed spreader to another neighbor. he will mow the yard for a single mom who does not have a lawn mower. that's the kind of wonder servant man the officer is. God has given him his servant heart, and he uses it.

flip the coin. in settings outside this house, i am the more social one. i don't always get out there and chat it up with every new person i meet, but i don't mind talking to people. i don't mind talking in front of people. i get nervous but i don't get that "please don't make me stand up here or i'm going to throw-up" look the officer can get. i enjoy planning girl's night out and playdates. inside my house or rather at home, i feel like i have a million things to do. long ago the officer and i planned out our marital roles. it's goes pretty smoothly most of the time. we decided that i would take care of all the "inside" the house jobs, and he would take care of all the "outside"(including anything in the garage) the house jobs, plus taking the trash out. not that we can't help each other out but that's our general roles. he often helps me clean the house if we have company and i will scoop the poop (or clean up a dead rat in the backyard) if we are having company and he's not home. it has worked well for us. so he's just outside more doing his outside chores. let me not forget to mention that when it's 95 degrees outside, i don't enjoy being outside unless it's in the water.

the house next door has been vacant for a long time, but a sweet family with 4 kids moved into it. they have a 5 year old son and a 9 year old daughter my kids often play with. my kids enjoy playing with them. my neighbor was talking with my other neighbor (that sounds gossipy, but it wasn't). anyhow, they were talking and my neighbor had told the new neighbor that she hardly ever sees me and i never talk to her. i admit, i've probably talked to our new neighbors more because our kids play together. i admit that i don't know our other neighbors well. maybe i feel like i know them more than they know me because the officer will tell me whatever it is they've talked about.

i have been feeling convicted about getting to know my neighbors. God commands it of us.

Matthew 22:37-39
'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

if you are unsure if you're feeling convicted about something but you get this little thought in the back of your head and then you start hearing it EVERYWHERE, then you are being convicted about it. God's gentle way of telling you/me. well that happened to me. since we had the neighbor kids coming over, i thought i need to get to know them more (their parents too). then God started telling me through sunday school lessons, then through sermons, then through a neighbor who tells another neighbor that i'm anti-social. i wasn't offended by it (mostly), for the most part, i felt like it was a confirmation of what i had been thinking. it's like God was gently telling me and i wasn't paying attention, ignoring Him. then God said, "let's try a more direct way." gotcha. i hear You loud and clear.

i feel as if God is saying, "you are not the light i want you to be in your neighborhood. you hide it or let it go dim from all the things you do in your house. you have plenty of opportunities to let your neighbors see Me in your, but you aren't doing it."

so if you know me, keep me accountable. ask me how i'm doing in getting to know my neighbors. hopefully i will have something to tell you.