“Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”” Mark 12:29-31 (NLT)
Do You Love Your Neighbor? Your ACTUAL neighbor?
This past weekend, I had the opportunity and privilege to put the “love your neighbor” commandment into action alongside 2000+ other members of my church during Love Day (#loveday16). People participated in over 70 different outreaches throughout the Tulsa, OK Metro area. As a part of the larger Serve Day 2016, we joined 307 other churches across the globe to love our neighbors. I hope each of you were able to find your own way to love your neighbor too this weekend! More than at Love Day, I was able to love my neighbors…my ACTUAL neighbors…this past week as well.
Do you really love your neighbor, your actual, literal neighbor?
Leading up to Love Day, I mentioned that I have been doing a group book study on the book Servolution and some personal individual study on how to love your neighbor. There has been some great practical advice about reaching out to love others around you. Something that stood out and was a bit convicting for me was to love my ACTUAL neighbors.
I’ve lived in my neighborhood for 15 years now, and do you know that up until this past week I’ve never even met or talked to at least half of the neighbors on my street. It’s kind of embarrassing. Or maybe you can relate? It’s so easy, and honestly more convenient, to just keep to ourselves. We don’t have to deal with the awkwardness or messiness of dealing with strangers and their potential “issues”. However, in keeping to ourselves we might be missing out on not only obeying Jesus’ commandment to love your neighbor but also the joy that comes with it as a byproduct.
It’s rewarding to love your neighbor
After my reading and studies on how to love your neighbor, I’ve tried to be more purposeful about it. I’ve especially tried to step out and show love to the people right here in my own neighborhood. It’s taken a lot of prayer and getting out of my comfort zone. Can I tell you though…It’s been so very rewarding. I had such a great week this past week!
Sometimes it seems like when you try to help others, you end up getting more out of it than they do. By stepping out of my comfort zone recently to talk to my neighbors, I have received loads of unexpected benefits. I’ve made some new friends, both young and old. I got some history lessons (I love history!), and I even learned what a Dogtrot house is! I also ended up with some fresh eggs from one of the neighbor’s chickens! Most importantly, my heart and soul were happy and full at the end of the day.
On a mission to love our neighbors
The boys had to get pretty creative to get a rope around a broken limb hanging about 40 ft over our drive!
This past week our community suffered a severe storm with tornado strength winds and the accompanying damage. Thankfully we had no damage to our property. We only had a couple trees and several limbs down, a 2 day power outage, and a big mess to clean up. Many of my neighbors were not so lucky. There were several trees on top of houses.
As a result, the kids and I decided it would be a great opportunity to serve! The day after the storm we set out on a mission to walk through the neighborhood to offer our help with cleanup. Two houses down we met Richard. He said he didn’t need any help, but he was so much fun to visit with! That’s where I got the history lessons and fresh chicken eggs. 🙂
We probably talked with him for close to an hour. I also learned that he and his wife are fans of serving others too. She works at local school where she takes some of the fresh eggs to work with her and has a donation jar. They use the donations from the eggs to help kids in need there at the school. Cool, huh? Next, Richard took the kids and me on a tour of his chicken coops, let us pet some baby chicks, and sent us back home with some fresh eggs. What a nice guy!
More neighbors to love
Next, we met Shirley, an elderly lady that lives next to Richard. I LOVED her! She also told us she didn’t need our help, but I kept insisting. She finally agreed to let us help, but then Park, an older gentleman from a few more houses down, wanted us all to come see the massive tree damage at his house. So the five of us walked down the street to Park’s house. As we were walking Shirley and Park went on about how nice it was that I was offering to help. I told them, “Well, Jesus said to love your neighbor, so that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re on a mission to help today.” Both Park and Shirley looked at me and smiled. She then said, “Well the fact that you even offered means just as much, if not more, to me.”
We stayed a Park’s house for a while assessing the damage and visiting with him and his wife. Park then noticed the electricity had come back on so we all decided to venture on back home to check our own homes to make sure the fridge/freezer contents were still okay. As we walked Shirley back home, Richard met us to make sure we knew the power was back on. Shirley, Richard and I stood there and visited for a long while again. It was like we were family just exchanging story after story between each other!
Mission Love Your Neighbor accomplished!
After about the third time of saying, “After this story I have to go” Richard went on home. However, Shirley and I stood there chatting longer. After a while she insisted that I go on home and that she really, truly didn’t need the help. She then told me that she had just been in Dallas in the aftermath of the Dallas police shootings. She mentioned how saddened she was by all of the events and all of the hatred going on. She stated how impressed she was with the Dallas Chief of Police and how more people in the world need to be like him.
Then she uttered something that melted my heart. Shirley said, “Now I know there are people like him, and one of them is my neighbor,” and we exchanged an emotional hug. Mission Love Your Neighbor accomplished (and I didn’t even lift a finger)! [insert happy tears]
Love Day, a different kind of neighbor
To top it off, the next day was Love Day where I served at a women and children’s shelter for domestic violence and sex trafficking victims. I helped make and serve lunch with my church small group. Part of our serving included sitting and mingling with the ladies during lunch. Honestly, I was pretty nervous about this part. I asked two of the ladies if I could join them to which they happily agreed. I broke the ice by saying, “Okay, how is the potato salad?” They told me how much they enjoyed it. “Oh good!” I said, “that’s what I made today.” (It was the same potato salad that I shared about in this post 😉 )
We had such great conversation that day. The two women shared part of their stories with me. One of the ladies really opened up about some things that she had been dealing with and thanked me for letting her vent. I started feeling a little guilty about not helping with the cleanup in the kitchen because I had been visiting with these ladies for so long. So I asked my leader, Carri, if I needed to come to the back and help. As I did, one of the ladies looked at me and said, “Don’t go.” Carri said, “You stay right there and visit with those two beautiful ladies!” So I did!
Carri later eased my guilt by telling me that I was doing exactly what I was there for. I did feel like I had made at least somewhat of a small impact (even though I didn’t do much) because they asked if I was staying for dinner and asked if I would please come back again. [insert even more happy tears]
My olive oil and wine
Last week I talked about how we all have some type of olive oil and wine and how to use what we have to serve others. Well, I definitely got to do that this past week. I have a mouth, and I like to talk! I certainly got to use both of those after the storms and on Love Day. Who would’ve thought that talking and listening could actually be serving?!
Mother Teresa on loving your neighbor
I’ve learned that to love your neighbor can mean many things. Sometimes helping the needy is more than just helping someone physically or financially. Some needs are emotional. Some people have a genuine need of just having someone to talk to and to listen to them. I guess it goes back to what I shared before about imagining that everyone is wearing a sign that says “Make Me Feel Important”.
Additionally, I learned that it often doesn’t take much more than just going next door or down the street to show love. And guess what…it makes a difference. Even the Good Samaritan didn’t have to go looking for someone in need. The hurting and needy appeared right on his path. (Luke 10:25-37)
So how about you?
Take Some Practical Steps to Love Your Neighbor…Your ACTUAL Neighbor:
- Pray and ask God to give you a heart to love your neighbor, to open your eyes to see opportunities to serve them, and to give you grace to be willing to be inconvenienced.
Pray: “Lord, please give me a heart to serve and to love my neighbor. Please open my eyes to see the needs of the hurting around me, to see ways that I can serve. Give me ideas of things that I can do to serve my neighbors. Help opportunities to stand out to me so that I can seize them. Help me to be unselfish and to be willing to be inconvenienced and interrupted at times. Give me the strength and the courage to reach out and talk to those right around me.”
- Look for opportunities and open doors to love your neighbor. There are some occasional and automatic open opportunities and chances to connect with your neighbors. Take advantage of these opportunities when they arise to limit some of the awkwardness of meeting somebody new.
- One is a new neighbor (or if YOU are the new neighbor). Make introductions and consider a gift of hospitality and/or exchange of phone numbers.
- Another opportunity is a crisis. This is exactly the opportunity I took advantage of this past week in the aftermath of the storms.
- A third opportunity is celebration. Are you having a cookout, party or other celebration? Invite a neighbor or two!
- Look for other opportunities like these to make introductions and show some love.
- Be visible–Start spending some time in your front yard. This was actually some practical advice that I received from the “How to Neighbor” devotional that I went through. It suggested doing things like putting your BBQ, swing set, or picnic table in your front yard. Make sure to smile, wave, and make conversation with people who walk by or are out in their yards. Invite your neighbors over to join you for a cookout.
- Offer or swap favors with your neighbors. Other suggestions from the devotional included swapping tools, lawn equipment, or pet-sitting and/or baking something to share with your neighbors on occasion. Asking to borrow or swap things can be helpful when getting to know your neighbors because people like to feel needed and helpful. It’s just one more step to getting to know them so that you can better know what THEIR needs are and how to love them.
“Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13:35 (NLT)
What are some ways that you love your neighbor—your ACTUAL neighbor? Give us some ideas for serving by leaving a comment below.
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