Tristan McCray's Blog
Loving Neighbor.... / 02.10.09, 04:14 PM
as yourself.
Once again, time has gotten away from me. Sorry for not writing for so long; I hope to do better in the future. In this entry, I wish to convey a story that I hope will encourage you and be beneficial for me to think about and fully analyze.
Two Saturdays ago, our team was invited by Anita to a BBQ. Wonderful! We met Anita way back in October, but hadn’t had any contact since then. She randomly turned up one day at Miss Jolinda’s (the lady who gives me lunch) and it turns out they go to the same church (which, on a side note, I really need to visit). They got to talking, I guess, and thought it would be a good way for the team to get together and meet Miss Jolinda and have some fellowship. The date was made.
That Saturday, Becky, Jess and I went to a grant writing workshop while others visited neighbors in the community. We set off around 5:00, as Anita’s house is just down the street. When we arrived we were greeted by a man asking, “Are you the ones who are gonna do something about all these weeds?” Not sure how to respond, I said, “I hope so.” Now, Anita had mentioned something before about a lot that was grown up right next to her house and asking me what I thought could be done. About all I had to offer was a promise to put her name in when Desire Street gets some volunteers later this month. I hadn’t thought anything of it, assuming that response would be good enough. Well, when we arrived, we made small talk but conversation quickly changed to the lot next door. She kept asking us what we thought we could do, citing the rats and critters it brought and how it blocked her house from the road. These things are true, but there just wasn’t anything we could do – the weeds were about 10ft tall and covered basically the whole lot. It quickly became apparent that Anita wanted us to do something that night, so we went over to have a closer look.
By this time it was starting to get dark already, but we looked over the situation and I pulled out one of the weeds, which came up easy enough, as I figured. We had no other tools, nor gloves, nor the correct clothes (thankfully, everyone had worn sneakers), but we started in. Let me be the first to tell you, I wasn’t happy. I felt betrayed, hoodwinked, fooled, taken advantage of. I wasn’t here to pull out these weeds (mini trees, almost), I was here to eat! I found myself with a scowl on my face, taking my anger out on the weeds, yanking them up forcefully. I just couldn’t understand why they hadn’t just asked us. The rest of the team was having just as rough a time dealing with the situation. Zack tried singing praise songs, Curtis went into super-work mode, while others lagged behind. It dawned on me, that this is loving my neighbor as myself, and I’m not doing a very good job of it. We continued pulling, well into the dark, being aided by a light on the house. We weren’t able to finish, but got a big chunk done. Zack and I went back on Thursday and finished up the job.
Upon reflection, this was, I think, the first time loving my neighbor was really hard. No one ever promised it would be easy, but I had always found it to be. No matter what the circumstances, we are called to show the world God by our love. I did a bad job of it that night. Not that we quit or said no, but our attitudes were about the most foul and pessimistic as they had ever been – far from the love God calls us to show.
Lord, heal me. Grant me a spirit of love…always.
0 Comments
Leave a Comment...
Read more of Tristan McCray's Blogs.
