The neighborhood boys are ringing my doorbell asking if my granddaughters can come out to play. (I dug a six foot deep pit for them under the welcome mat. I was planting a fruit tree). The insects are back so the birds aren’t fighting for the remaining seeds in the feeder.
The joys of spring are finally here. And yet I find reason to be upset. My neighbor’s grass is greener and worse than that, there is no fence.
I know the old adage; “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.” I don’t really care about that. I am upset that my neighbor is not obliged to have a fence. The rules in the community in which we live forbid fences in the front lawns. So it does not matter that I take care to mow, mulch and manicure my lawn, it becomes indistinguishable from the unkempt, un-bracketed dandelion infested scrubland of the people next door.
I am not concerned that my neighbor’s grass is green or brown. I am upset that we have no fence. The best weather, no tornadoes, hail storms, floods or wildfires will not make me content if we have no fence. If I have to identify with people whose value, not values, are less in the eyes of society, I prefer we put up a fence.
That fence will keep me elite, exclusive and entitled.
Christ commands that I identify with those with crab grass, dandelions, and brown patches. I want a fence. Christ demands a gate.
John 13:34-35 – A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.