Touching Neighbours

We've lived in the house we're in for the last nine years. The first few years, we were so caught up in decoration and renovation, we didn't spend much time connecting with the people around us. Don't get me wrong, we made a couple of immediate friends, yet with such a long street, it was going to take some thought as to how we would reach the whole street.

Then came the AHAH moment.

Easter, Christmas & Birthdays etc, are natural times to celebrate something we might all experience in a year. So last year we bought some little bags and put chocolate, a card, a letter etc. then took the 70 bags around to each neighbour, knocking the door, saying hi and slowly at least finding out who is living in each house!

This year, the bags are a little nicer, we're telling everyone upfront that we are Christians, and that we want to build more community in our little village.

We've also done a community challenge where we created some hampers to give to underprivileged young adults, where our neighbours can donate items to fill the boxes, which worked very well last year. We created an open house with soft drinks and loose meat sandwiches, so when neighbours came around, we could chat, have a bite to eat and fill the boxes together.

With busy lives, it did cross our minds to only do a card this year and post it through people's letterboxes. Yet it didn't feel right. We would have missed knocking on the door, making a personal invitation to our home, so the image is getting ready for the big bag drop....

In our fast-paced world, it's easy to forget about the lonely, marginalised and sick neighbours living near us, so let's reach out to them, telling them they are not alone and that we, through the love of Jesus, want to make sure they are OK, and that we care.

We're making plans to have those who will be on their own around to us on Christmas Day. Cooking for 20, I guess.

Have a great Christmas.