“This grass
is pretty much DEAD.” I heard my neighbor mutter to herself from my open
window.
As I peered
from my upstairs window, I saw her struggle in our front yard to set up the
sprinkler.
A little
context about me and Laura’s place in the lovely Ramona neighborhood. It’s
located at the very end of a town home complex. What makes our building unique
is that we share a big lawn with a couple of our neighbors.
When we
moved in June. The grass was completely dead. Brown and dry. No signs of life.
I figured it was pointless to try to bring it back to its former glory.
So here I
stood watching in amazement as my neighbor is watering our grass! I thought it
was pretty cool, but I wasn’t sure it would work.
Later on in
the week when I ran into her again, I asked her what prompted her to start
watering the grass.
This
neighbor in particular has lived in the complex the longest (over 10 years) She
explained to me that the lawn used to be beautiful and well taken care of but recently
it has fallen into despair and neighbors just stopped caring for it. She just
wanted to make it look nice again, even if it meant watering it every day.
A light
bulb went off in my head. I talked to her about us making a schedule to water
the grass together.
Since we
moved in, one of my biggest struggles and questions when it came to building
authentic relationships with my neighbors was How in the world do I get past that initial awkwardness and small
talk?!
You know
what I’m talking about. The awkward moment when you see a neighbor and you stop
to make small talk and it lasts for a minute or two and then you completely run
out of questions to ask or things to say so you stand there in awkward silence.
Then you awkwardly excuse your self and retreat to your house and cry over that
horrible experience over a giant tub of chocolate ice cream and try to regroup?
Wait. Is
that just me? No, this scenario doesn’t happen to me all the time. Okay, if you can’t tell, I like to incorporate
sarcasm and humor in my writing (often I do a poor job!) so please bear with
me! J
But the
point is, overcoming this has been at times very, very frustrating.
But working
out a schedule to water the grass with my neighbor gave me an opportunity to
potentially develop a deeper relationship with her just by taking the next step
and offering to DO something with her. And when you think about it, aren’t the best relationships formed when
you work towards a specific goal?
I will
share that the first couple of weeks in the Ramona neighborhood had been rough.
New people, a new environment. We were the new kids on the block. It seemed
hopeless. I had a beautiful vision for this neighborhood. A thriving
neighborhood where people felt known, loved, and cared for. Where relationships
were based on empowering and encouraging each other. I wanted to pour into
others as well as learn from my neighbors. I was confused how God would work
through Laura and I to achieve this vision.
But he is.
Even in the past two weeks alone, God has blessed us with amazing opportunities
to interact with our neighbors. And what is even more amazing is that many our
fellow neighbors are believers who have encouraged us to keep our hand to the
plow and strive and preserve to provide a glimpse of kingdom in our own back
yard.
So how does
all this connect with community development? Just like our dead grass…we must
tend to it. Taking the time to care for it by watering it, assessing its needs,
getting our hands dirty etc. But most of all we must have patience.
I do desire
for one day our neighborhood to be a thriving place just like those I read in
all those amazing community development books. But just because I can’t see it
yet, doesn’t mean that God isn’t in the Ramona neighborhood. He’s been here
long before me and Laura moved in.
My prayer
is that we can work along side our neighbors tend to the ‘yard’ and make it a
place of growth and life.
And just
for the record, it’s only been two weeks since we started watering the grass
daily and it sure is green!
Keeping my hand to the plow,
Rachel
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