I've been trying to love my neighbors. Not because they aren't easy to love, because they really are. I have a sweet neighborhood full of a broad spectrum of people of different ages, life stages, social class, and race. And we get along really well!
But I have a busy life with the four kids, homeschooling, and just the day-to-day, and before I know it, it's been months since I intentionally reached out to a neighbor in love. I hope that changes. I hope it becomes more natural and instinctive the more I practice. But until then, I have to work at it, and allow myself some grace when I don't meet my own expectations.
My neighbor, Mr. H doesn't seem to have to work at it so much. He is a great source of inspiration in this area. For instance, the flags.
A couple years ago, Mr H took it upon himself to decorate our entire street with flags for Independence Day. He started with his own, his immediate neighbors, and my house, which is across the street. And then the next year, he went from door to door, asking the permission to plant flags in front of every house--almost 30 of them.
He made many trips to different stores, buying all of the flags they had, with his own money, and then placed them, carefully measured by three shoe-lengths along the entire stretch of our block. Both sides. I don't know how old Mr H is, but I know that he suffers with arthritis, and that the task of decorating our street takes him several days in the heat to complete. (Although this year he was helped along by Ethan, who was thrilled and proud to be a part of it!)
A few days after the 4th, he'll take down every flag, carefully wash the base of the stick, and store them safely away until next year. This man knows about building community. He knows that doing something small can have a big impact. When we have visitors to our house while the flags are up, every person asks about them. Because of the simple loving act of one man, we are unified in some way, despite our differences in background. And that is no small thing in this country today.
He came over this morning to tell us that he won't be able to make it to our block party tomorrow, but that he wished he could.
I asked him why he would go to the trouble to plant flags in front of every house on the street. And he said, "I felt like it needed to be done."
Thanks, Mr H! They look so beautiful! I'm happy you're my neighbor.
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PS If you live in the South Dallas area, you've probably seen Mr H's roofing billboards around. If you or someone you know is in need of a new roof, give him a call! (He got ours done very quickly after a big hail storm.) And tell him his neighbor Anna sent you. He'd get a kick out of that!
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