Kindness and Gratitude in the Neighborhood!Sample

BEING A NEIGHBOR IS GIVING GOD GLORY

Walking with each other is such a treasure because we can learn about each other.  Just this year, one of our neighbor's fathers passed away. It was expected as he had been ill and was aged. However, when it is ones' daddy, none of the reasoning matters, as it is a huge loss.  All the walking buddies rallied and supported Lynne in the very same way they had supported me when I lost my siblings the year prior. Two short weeks later, her mama died of what doctors called a ‘broken heart.’  You see, Lynne’s parents had been married for 70 years and were always together.  

"In broken heart syndrome, a part of your heart temporarily enlarges and doesn’t pump well, while the rest of your heart functions normally or with even more forceful contractions."  Information from heart.org

Again, her neighbors and walking buddies rallied to do what we could to let her know we truly cared.  Within that month Lynne would experience another death, this time her only sibling, her sister.  (Told with permission.)  Why did I relay this tragic story? Because life was meant to be lived with people.  Yes, she had her children and grandchildren, but there was a widow woman who suffered the loss of her entire birth family in the period of a month and two weeks.  God plants us as neighbors to be more than a ‘hi’ over a fence or a nod as we drive out the driveway.  He plants people to be His feet, His hands, and His heart to those who need to feel His love.  

Below is a part of Jesus's prayer found in John 17 before He went to the cross.  We are to carry on His work to build his kingdom while we are able.  

Jesus Prays for All Believers

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me, and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one - I in them and you in me - so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.  I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”  John 17:20-25 

CAN YOU RELATE

We all have times in our lives where we don’t know where to turn. Oh, sure my neighbor could have walked through this horrific event in her life without her neighbor friends, but how much better to go through things with those who care.  How does God’s light shine in a dark world if no one reaches out?  Please join me tomorrow as you learn how a silly birthday song sheds the light of God!