Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Matthew 22:37-39

A Feeder of My Own? Nah

A couple of years ago I went to my uncle’s 100th birthday in Winston-Salem, NC. Uncle Willie is still alive, by the way. Glory!!

I stayed at an amazing Airbnb in downtown Winston-Salem.

What I loved about the property was a kitchen with a window wall looking out onto a backyard filled with mature, beautiful trees. Hanging from one of those trees was an active bird feeder.

My daughter, my cousin, and I watched, delighted, as the, often, colorfully beautiful and varied bird species, larger and smaller, came and went.

I returned home thinking, Bird feeder? I eventually decided against one, mainly because I couldn’t figure out a placement where my own property would take the least amount of poop impact.

Seemingly, my neighbors read my mind. That summer, they set up a small feeder of their own.

And it was cute! For about a week.

Amazing Neighbors

I should pause and say that I share a driveway with these dear people, who have been gracious to me on many occasions.

They’ve shoveled snow before I got home from work, taken my garbage to the curb, lifted heavy salt or sand bags, been a sounding board for repairs, and dropped me off when I needed it. Most of all, they are consistently friendly and hospitable folks.

I believe I’ve been a good neighbor to them in return.

You might be surprised how heartwarming it is to unexpectedly see someone standing not far from you, to whom you can give and expect to receive a kind greeting.

The Neighbors Before Them

It wasn’t always this easy.

When I first bought my home, that same house was a rental, and things started out well.

However, after repeated attempts, first through the owner, then directly with the occupants, to stop them from blocking the driveway, the relationship, and most interactions with the family, grew tense.

During one particularly memorable dispute, when I went out the back door, the rear light brightened startling my neighbor’s twenty-something children and their friends, who were smoking weed in a car they’d left in the yard.

The next day, the bulb was broken out of the fixture. I only noticed their presumed vandalism when I heard the crunch of glass shards underfoot niw littering my top step.

Early on, when things were still friendly, the mom had told me they were Christians. I don’t relate this to suggest that believers can’t disagree — Scripture, and perhaps your own experience, indicates otherwise.

So I truly appreciate the current owners. I prize the relationship, especially since I’ve known the alternative.

My Backyard, My Public Square

Primarily, though, I try to stay conscious of living as a “good” Christian in front of my neighbors, and anyone else I encounter: most of this family is Hindu, with one Muslim member in the home.

One of my core values is being a woman of integrity. Therefore, presenting myself as a “good Christian” because, indeed, by the grace of God, that is who I am, matters, perhaps, most especially in “ordinary places.”

For example, whether I am driving, posting, working, shopping, or wondering about the birds in my backyard, I try to stay aware that these are all corners, if you will, of the public square.

The public square was important to the Apostle Paul as well.

You may remember the Apostle’s famous Mars Hill sermon in Acts 17.

He was in Athens, mostly among non-Jews. Ever the evangelist, Paul went to the agora, the public square, to debate people of different beliefs and to declare and defend, to present and represent, the Gospel to those with no background in Scripture or the Messiah.

So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.” (Acts 17:17, 22)

I don’t personally know any “celebrity” Christians, and it’s unlikely my neighbors do either. My neighbors, who have no Christian background at all, do know me.

Credibly preaching Jesus through how I actually behave toward especially non-Christians is a core value.

God gave me an agora with a shared driveway and a bird feeder.

The Raccoon Buffet

As my neighbors continue feeding the birds, I enjoy seeing some startlingly beautiful friends stop in, as well as the less showy ones I’ve come to recognize as regulars.

What began as a small feeder has graduated to good-sized trays on the ground, where feathered commuters feast on sunflower seeds, shelled peanuts, and, occasionally, shrimp and chicken.

Squirrels and stray cats regularly pull up. Recently, five raccoons (a family, maybe?) attacked the trays one night. I was genuinely shocked. They merely looked up from their banquet briefly, blinked, and kept grazing.

What Does a Good Neighbor Do With Seeds and Poop?

Two years later, my dear uncle is now 102 and as handsome as a young man of 70. And two years later, the bird feeding is going strong all year long. You can imagine the seeds and poop all over the yard, mostly on my neighbors’ side, but also on mine.

I didn’t want to overstep, cause an unnecessary rift, or offer a clouded picture of Christ over a bird feeder. So I’d been thinking: should I make a move or not?

Most of the family, the human family, is currently away on vacation. Today, tired of the mess and already out working in my yard, I swept up the seeds in the common area, left the feeding trays alone (they sit on my neighbors’ private property), and hosed down parts of the yard.

To my eye, the back looks refreshed, and I hope my actions are received as just one more “good neighbor” gesture among the many we’ve shared through the years.

I believe I mostly meant it that way.

Loving your neighbor as yourself doesn’t always look like a sermon. Sometimes loving well, the way Jesus might have, if He lived in my neighborhood, looks like using a hose or a broom on a neighbor’s behalf. Or knowing when not to.

What would you have done?

~Kimberly