Mr. Rogers was on to something...

It's something that most of the American middle class has forgotten, or perhaps have never experienced: really knowing your neighbors. At best, we wave over the drone of lawnmowers or flash a smile as we exit garages in unison. But really knowing our neighbors? It's uncommon at best.

One of the greatest privileges of living where we do is exactly that: we know our neighbors. We know their joys and struggles, quirks and strengths. We share meals and play time and stories. It's like nothing I've ever experienced before, but I imagine it's how God had hoped we would live.

Not that I'm biased, but our neighbors are amazing. Kids feel at home in our home. Goodies and dinners show up at our door all the time. Yards get rakes or trucks repaired, just because they are those kind of people. In many ways, their giving hearts flabbergast me: this month, one family is struggling just to have the money to buy groceries. They scraped some money, and we contributed a little, and they now have food in the fridge. What will they do with that food? Probably send dinner over to us. They've already been talking about helping buy a Christmas tree for another family in the trailer park (we're going to cut trees together tomorrow). As I thought about it this morning, I remembered the story about the widow at the temple who "gave all she had to live on." Sure, we help out, and I think God honors that. But that family feeds us out of a generosity that runs deeper. They are sharing with us out of all they have to live on.

I heard a radio dj today reminding us to think about giving this time of year, and I thought, "That's ridiculous." The kind of sharing that takes place between neighbors--and hopefully between humans--should not be seasonal. It should be a way of life, which requires sharing life. It requires investing in people's lives in ways that go beyond waiting for some organization to hang their name on a tree with a list of needs. Those things are awesome, no doubt. But they are seasonal. Relationships marked by sharing life should not be seasonal.

I'd be a hypocrite to stand on some moral high horse and say, "Get to know your neighbors!" Until I moved into a neighborhood that sort of lent itself to relationship, I sure wasn't doing it. Instead, I offer the challenge from a place of simply feeling humbled and blessed. Because I now know the riches that it can bring, I say to you, "Yes, get to know your neighbors."