The other day I was contemplating how few non-Christians I know. With a recent challenge to pray for lost friends and acqaintances at our church I actually struggled a bit thinking of people to pray for. It came down to some distant relatives who I know need to find a relationship with Christ but other than that I couldn't think of anyone I see in my daily circle that I could pray for. (Side note: I think it is important that God laid my relatives on my heart and they need prayer just as much as anyone else. I was just questioning why I have so few lost people in my daily life to reach out to.)
Then it hit me while I was sitting at home hanging out with Tian looking out the window. (Yeah sometimes I feel like that little nosey old lady who is always looking out her window at what others are doing.......but hey entertaining a toddler all day long can get old.) A voice that has been stirring in my heart for awhile speaks again....."You have plenty of lost people around you everyday that you could reach out to." The handicapped man who lives all alone, the pregnant teenage girl living with her family, the dad who lost his wife in a car accident and is raising a 1 year old, the young family with 2 toddlers, the elderly couple who love to sit outside and enjoy nature. There are plenty of people out there that you see everyday and need to know me - Your neighbors.
And the stirring in my heart is right. These people are lost and need a light in their lives and just maybe that could be me. And the stirring gets me excited. But it quickly is diminished by feelings of fear and doubt as to how it could ever happen. How would I ever build relationships with these people. Yes I can do the occasional hi how are you talk but something more than that? Do I just go up and knock on their door and invite myself in or invite them to church? I quickly realize it needs to be a little deeper than that. And lately I have been finding out how it can be..........through the fearlessness of a toddler.
Everytime Tian and I go outside Tian quickly gets bored with our yard and decides it's time to go explore somewhere else. Does he have any hesitations about the new surroundings he is going in or the new people he is going to meet. No. He is excited to go and share with them in whatever they are doing. So this usually means I am there tagging along and it is amazing how an energetic, happy toddler can make anyone smile.
I need to be more like that toddler. Happy, excited and enthusied at the possiblity of going to visit and spend some time with my neighbors and share in their lives. Yes I need to get out from behind the window and begin to share in the lives of my neighbors.
So to leave the challenge in the words of a Fred Rogers and because songs always stick with me...........
Won't You Be My Neighbor
It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood
A beautiful day for a neighbor
Would you be mine
Could you be mine
It's a neighborly day in this beauty wood
A neighborly day for a beauty
Would you be mine
Could you be mine
I've always wanted to have a neighbor just like you
I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you
So, let's make the most of this beautiful day
Since we're together we might as well say
Would you be mine, could you be mine
Won't you be my neighbor
Won't you please, won't you please
Please won't you be my neighbor