Love Your Neighbor
By Craig D. Mann
Some of you are too young to remember the days when baling and corn shelling jobs were plentiful. The phone used to ring frequently at our house those summer evenings, and generally speaking, my three boys had a job the next day. Preceding those times, I can remember when I was a youth, working all summer with the East Plattville Baling Company, where five neighbors took turns helping one another put up hay (now days the IRS would roll their eyes trying to figure out that business arrangement). The lunches at three o’ clock in the afternoon were tremendous, and the friendly interaction was even greater. If there was rain in the forecast, we would work late to finish the job. Basically, we had each other’s backs.
Things have changed somewhat and that sense of caring and community does not prevail like it used to. Proverbs 18:24 concludes with….but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
I am grateful to have a few friends that fit that description. Mark 12:31 tells us that the second greatest commandment is: Love your neighbor as yourself. Oops, I could stand to clean up my act a little bit. How about you?
