October 8, 2024

Dear Friends, 

I love living in this neighbourhood where we have built our garden suite! Since we started building two summers ago, I’ve met so many great people. Sharon and I have talked about how we’ve already developed more and better relationships here than we had developed in the 40 years that we lived in our previous home. Assuming that there hasn’t been some dramatic change in my character (those of you who know me would agree that that hasn’t happened!), the only logical explanation is the people who live around us. 

One lady is an amazing gardener. While we were excavating, she came over to ask if she could have some of the soil we had piled up so that she could add to her composter. We gladly complied as Spencer dropped about two Bobcat bucket loads behind her fence. That  Fall, she brought over a cardboard box full of produce from her garden (“I gave you a bunch of weirdly shaped carrots,” she said, “because I thought the girls would like them.”) My immediate neighbour on one side has helped install the siding on both the garage and house.  He has lent some tools that were key to the operation. His eye for detail has led to refining some plans in ways that were better. The elderly neighbour on the other side waved me down  in the back alley one day and said, “Now that I’ve moved our old trailer out of the parking  spot by my garage, I’m wondering if you would like to park your boat there?” (I thought about  it for all of a nanosecond before gladly accepting her gracious offer.) 

On another day, Ken was at our place, helping me modify the landing for the back stairs from  Tim and Laura’s home. A different neighbour came by and asked, “Is this your truck?” He was referring to the used Toyota Tacoma that Ken had recently purchased. I introduced him to Ken  

and they had a conversation. The upshot of that conversation was that my neighbour gave  Ken a reasonably expensive piece for the bed of his truck, simply because the neighbour had no use for it and wanted it to go to a good home. 

While circumstances and location help, it is people who make a neighbourhood. Our memory verse for this month (Revelation 21:3-4) speaks of the ultimate neighbourhood (the kingdom of heaven) and the ultimate neighbour (God, himself). My neighbours, great as they are, can only help with outward things. God deals with sadness, death, loss and pain. Just think how great and lasting that will be!  

Parents, as you seek to help your kids with this, get them talking about the neighbours they like and why they like them. Talk about what it takes to be a good neighbour as well as how to create a great neighbourhood (looking out for others, taking care of more than just your own space, doing things together, etc.). Then, think together about what it would be like to have  God as your neighbour (Would he have a garden? Would we be afraid of him or glad he was next door? What would his yard look like? Would he have a high fence or no fence at all?).  Finally, all of us should consider how this understanding should impact us as we relate to those in the spaces where we live. Are our neighbourhoods better because we move in? 

Blessings! 

Doug