Pr. 14:21: “He who despises his neighbor sins; but he who has mercy on the poor happy is he.”
Recently my husband and I were talking about treehouses. He was recalling the tree in his neighbor’s yard in which he and his friends used to play. He said that if they ever began to climb too high, the lady would come out of her house and tell them to get back down, but that she never said a word if they were down at the bottom.
I thought about her and mentioned how she must have been watching them the whole time, ensuring they were ok and probably enjoying the scene of kids at play. He recalled how nice she was.
When he was a young child, my husband’s family was very financially poor. He said that when this same lady would come back from grocery shopping she would have a bag of groceries for him to take in to his mom. With a smile he recalled that there would almost always be sweet treats in the bag, which was something his family couldn’t afford to buy on their own.
This lady is a wonderful example of someone who did not despise her neighbor, but had mercy on them. She left a lasting impression of love and kindness on my husband. When Jesus called us to love our neighbor as ourselves, this is exactly what he meant. What is it that you enjoy? Find a ‘neighbor’ to share it with, and show the love of God today.
Recalling the love I’ve been shown,
jamie
considering the word 