Love Your Neighbor (Part 2)

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command, “Love your neighbor as yourself.  (Galatians 5:14 NIV) 

In part one of my “Love Your Neighbor,” devotional, I wrote of how wonderful it had been that three of my new neighbors cleared my sidewalks and driveway during the recent subzero temperatures and multiple snowstorms.

I wanted to thank all 3 of these neighbors with a gift from my kitchen so I began baking cookies and making homemade bread to take to all three households.  As a Christian, sharing bread is a rather sacred thing to do in my mind, but I always wonder how it will be received.

I’ve shared bread with one of these new families before. So, when I went back this second time, I wondered if I was bringing something they liked. If not, I thought, it wouldn’t be a very good thank you gift. 

As I was leaving their home, I could hear the dad and his 3 children talking inside the snow fort they were building. The children were discussing how many of my cookies they could have and the dad was saying that he just wanted a thick slice of homemade bread. That was “music to my ears!”

I smiled all the way home thinking to myself that there are so many simple ways to “love your neighbor.”

Prayer: Thank You, Father, for the gifts You give to each of us that we might be able to help one another. Remind us to be kind and caring and to make our “neighborly love” a verb not just something we say but something we do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. 

Judy Welch