While mowing the lawn a few weeks ago, I came across a little present the neighbor’s pooch left in the middle of my yard. Infuriated, I grabbed the dedicated set of tools from the garage and cleaned up the mess.
As I was heading for the trash, I had the sudden urge to return the gift and launch the contents of my scoop in the general direction of the neighbor’s front porch. At that moment, just as I was about to follow through with the urge, the Jesus voice popped into my head. ”Love your neighbor as yourself”
Grrr. He got me again.
Neighbors. Sometimes it is hardest to love the people we are the closest to us. Do you ever wonder why the folks we spend our day around don’t, or won’t, do the things we think they should? I do. The people we see every day and deal with everyday seem to be the same people who get on our nerves the most. Jesus knows this, God knows this, and they give us guidance. They give us the Bible.
There’s a lot of Bible space dedicated to the concept of neighbors. Of the Ten Commandments, five through ten are a guide list of neighborhood relations. Jesus’ Great Commandments are all about treating each other with love and respect. And St. Paul mentions the subject of neighbors so often, it would lead one to think he got a drachma royalty every time he mentioned the neighbor’s thing in his writing.
What does that tell me? First, it tells me neighbors have been causing each other problems since Adam met Eve. It also tells me the relationships with our own neighbors are very important in God’s eyes. In the significant Bible space dedicated to neighborly relations, God tells us how to act toward each other. He asks us to treat each other with respect and pleads with us to watch over each other.
Mother Teresa was all about ‘loving thy neighbor.’ She dove into this vocation of hers head on, dedicating her life to making the immediate world around her a better place. She could have raised funds and awareness and prayers for those in the slums of Calcutta from afar, and then simply shipped those resources to those in need. She could have dropped the check in the mail and moved on, but she didn’t. She embedded herself and took care of those around her. She truly had love and compassion for her neighbor.
Next time we feel like launching unspeakables across property lines, take a moment and reflect on Mother Teresa’s example. Let’s follow her works to make our world a better and brighter place. We should tend to the garden surrounding our own life with the same drive and passion as the Blessed Teresa of Calcutta did.
And please, before engaging in any physical actions, or reactions, against neighbors who slip off our nice list, remember a few things we learned from the Bible. Do not kill anyone! Or commit adultery or steal in your neighborhood. Please don’t bear false witness or covet your neighbor’s wife or goods. Instead, try to “Love your neighbor as yourself”.
Trust me, we’ll all feel better at the end of the day, especially if we don’t have to scrub the “gift” we air-mailed over the property line off of the neighbor’s front porch swing.
Copyright 2014, Mike Hays
Mike Hays
Mike Hays is a husband, a father of three, a lifelong Kansan and works as a molecular microbiologist. Besides writing, he has been a high school strength and conditioning coach, a football coach and a baseball coach. His debut middle grade historical fiction novel, THE YOUNGER DAYS, is a 2012 recipient of The Catholic Writer's Guild Seal of Approval Award. You can find it at the publisher's website or on Amazon.
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