Love

Water play...creative fun for hours!  (the house to the right is our neighbors whom we are trying to love right now...just want to show you the proximity to our home.)

"Look at this pavement, it's covered with joy!" Vincent, age 4.  Exactly!!!  Our back patio has been turned into an art studio for creative and artistic expression...

Elliot's heart.  He drew it and said "Look, it's a heart because I love Mommy!".  (melt!  LOVE!)

Elliot's sunbursts.

I love the color...bright, vivid.  

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart....and love your neighbor as yourself."  That's difficult for me to do right now.  I don't have a lot of love and compassion for my neighbors - literal next-door neighbors - today.  Here's the story...

This weekend our cat walked over to our neighbor's driveway, and Annaliese followed it over there.  Elliot and Vincent yelled from our yard for her to come back.  She started crying.  I told her to come back too, and that's when our neighbor lady yelled some things in my direction and stormed back inside her house.  That made me angry.  I don't like to be yelled at, and especially not when it is directed towards my children.  After coming inside and touching base with Martin, I went over and knocked on her door and asked if she wanted to tell me what she was upset about.  She gladly and angrily shared some ugly things about my children and my parenting.  To sum it up, she said my children yelled and screamed "all the time", that they are outside running around "all the time", and that I don't supervise them.  She made it clear that my children are my responsibility and that she doesn't want to hear or see them near her house anymore.

Well, I'm not about to have my children shut indoors sitting in front of a TV all day every day.  No ma'am.  And I will not apologize for the joy and zeal and love and passion for life that my children have.  They need to play outdoors.  Sure, they are loud and yell, but they are CHILDREN, and that's what children do.  And yes, we correct them when they over-do their loudness, but honestly, I'd rather that children be given more freedom to live life exuberantly than ere on stifling their play and passion for life.  And ma'am, again, for the record, our cat does not run over to your house because my children are too loud.  Please learn to be as gracious to our children - and all children - as you are to our cat.

So, I'm finding it difficult to love this particular neighbor.  Although we have never had a friendly relationship with them (they've ignored any wave or smile or hello we've directed towards them), it still stings when someone says negative things about my children.  But, I have been praying a lot more for this lady since this incident...I hope she learns how transforming and life-giving Love can be.