Not about Me - Martin Wiles

If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? 1 John 3:17 NLT

Opportunities abounded. All we had to do was walk a few feet.

My wife and I lived in a small patio townhome community. Many of the residents were senior adults, many of whom were widowed. My wife—the one in our marriage with the more sensitive heart—discovered numerous ways for us to help them.

Two of the neighbors—one widowed and one not—needed their grass cut. While the homeowners’ association paid someone to landscape the front area of the townhomes, the small back yards were the owners’ or renters’ responsibility. When these two asked if I’d cut their back yards, I said, “Sure.” I didn’t have a lawnmower, but I didn’t need one. The yards are so small a weed eater worked fine. Fifteen minutes was all I needed to finish a yard.

One of these neighbors also watched her husband have several strokes, leaving him unable to walk, tend to himself, and eat solid food. My wife loves to cook—large meals. And sharing our food with neighbors was her way of showing love. After taking a meal to this neighbor, the neighbor asked her if she’d be willing to cook a meal a day for her. Of course, my wife couldn’t resist. Our neighbor became a good friend—with a full stomach. In addition to taking her food and cutting her grass, we checked on her almost daily to see if she needed anything from the store and to see how her husband was doing.

The other of the two neighbors also received some of our food occasionally. She also asked my wife to fix things she had messed up on her smart phone. And any little odd job around the house she needed doing, she called me. In addition to cutting her grass, I sprayed her weeds, put out Snake Away when she saw a snake, lifted bags of mulch when she decided to do more landscaping, helped her move a piece of furniture, changed her house filters, and anything else she asked.

A third neighbor lived across from us. She, too, was a widow, but, unlike the other two, had no children to help her. When she went to the post office, she asked if we needed her to take anything. Sometimes, she invited my wife over to see her flowers. If we went off for a few days, I asked her to watch the outside of our house. And since she was a neighbor to the other neighbor who hated snakes, I sprinkled some Snake Away in her yard, too.

All small acts of kindness, but love nevertheless. As Christians, we proclaim our love for others, but John says if that’s all we do we haven’t done much. Nor have we shown actual love. We must match actions with words.

I’ve found God will more likely send opportunities to be neighborly if we ask Him. But busyness often consumes our schedules, so we also have to pray for spiritual eyes to see those opportunities when He sends them. Otherwise, we’ll miss them every time.

Sometimes, the neighbors’ requests came when I had other things on my agenda. If I wasn’t careful, I found myself complaining when I should have been thankful for the opportunities. A regular check on our attitude always proves appropriate. God loves a joyful giver, whether the giving is monetary or otherwise.

Life is not all about us. In fact, it is about God and others, and the sooner we discover this the happier we’ll be and the more fulfilled life we’ll live.

Think of ways to show a neighbor some love.

Father, I ask for opportunities to demonstrate Your love to others.

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