Love Your Neighbor (Part 1)

For the whole law can be summed up in this one command.”  Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:14 NLT)

“Love is a verb.” “It’s not what you say, but what you do that matters.”  These two statements are a portion of dialog from a Christmas movie I watched last December. Apparently, I had hidden them away in my memory and I hadn’t thought of them until I was the recipient of some amazing “neighborly love.” 

For the past 40 years, I have had the same address and most of the neighbors in my cul de sac were long term residents as well. Then a few years ago, one by one, many of us became widows. Three of the widows have moved away. So, now we have three younger families living here. 

Though I don’t know my new neighbors as well as I did my former neighbors, I am pleased to tell you that they are very caring young people. It was during that awful January cold snap with accompanying multiple snowstorms when everyone was trying to simultaneously stay warm and keep their driveways and sidewalks clear, that I got to know three of the young men a bit better.   

I’m in my mid 80’s now, and while I was outside trying to clear my sidewalks with my snowblower, I was approached by one of these young men who told me to go back inside and stay warm. He said the three of them would take turns doing my snow removal as well as the snow removal for the other two widows in our cul de sac. Wow! That’s some very special neighborly love removing snow multiple times in subzero temperatures!

When I asked the young man named Joe why all 3 of them were out so early and working so hard at keeping our cul de sac clear, he said, “Well my wife is due to have our first baby any day now and we need to be able to get out of here safely.” His answer opened my eyes to the fact that the neighborly love of these 3 young men was not only for those of us in our 80’s but for each other as well.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we praise You for all the ways You remind us to care for one another, and we thank You for all of Your people who love You and actively show their “neighborly love.” In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. 

Judy Welch