Love your Neighbor…the one next door.

From my wicker rocker on my patio where I sit each morning with a cup of tea and a pile of books, I can hear them coming.  The tinkling of the dog collars, the swish of the briefcases, the chattiness of the moms walking their kids to school.  The sidewalk that lines our back yard is a thoroughfare for our corner of the world, the neighborhood.

Many of my neighbors are nameless to me but I would recognize them, and often their dogs, anywhere. The older, likely retired, guy who always comments on the beauty of the weather.  Another calls my patio my “sanctuary” because of all the flowers but probably doesn’t know how accurate that is.  The older woman who daily attends Mass at the church nearby is part of the parade, as is the friendly mom who casually mentioned recently that she and her family are atheists.

I do sometimes wonder who lives across the street in the apartment house.  Cars come and go, tenants lug their grocery bags and occasionally pull a suitcase.  What are they grabbing out of those bags to make for dinner?  Where are they traveling to?  I probably won’t ever know their stories but they are neighbors too.

Some of my neighbors are now friends. We chat over the fence, celebrate holidays, birthdays and go to each others kid’s weddings.  We knew those kids since they were born.

The Bible says in, Acts 17:26, “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places that they should live”.

I am glad the exact place for me is this corner.

My fellow local taxpayers, my neighbors, my parish.

What is your neighborhood like?

Hope for the best,

Tish