A crowd in the street.

One day last week, I attended a dinner party at a friend's place in an area of town that I had never been before! It is not the swankiest neighbourhood, but it is very established with lots of trees and older homes that have probably seen at least one generation within its walls. This is the type of street that is a wide boulevard, no sidewalks, and few traffic lights. Tree branches hang over the street creating a beautiful canopy across the road.


As I turned the corner I was very surprised. Up the road, I could see, probably 10 people walking around. I thought for a moment that I had happened upon some sort of community event, when I realized that these people were just walking around! At first glance, this doesn't seem to be an extraordinary event, except it was.

I live in the suburbs, as do most of my friends. Many of these friends are young professionals with good jobs and little kids. If I had to guess, I would say that the average age of the homes/neighbourhoods, that I spend most of my time in, is about 10-15 years. In these "planned" communities, there are trees, but they are small, providing more aesthetic beauty than true foliage, the streets are narrow, and driveways small. Most times, by 6 or 7 pm all the babies are tucked into their high-end cribs and the jogger strollers are put away in the garage. The adults are resting on the couch watching their flat-screen TV. People are not talking to one another because they have never met since it is tough to meet someone who simply presses the automatic garage door opener and drives inside!!


The way we set up our lives now, there are no crowds in the street!




I am grateful that where I live now, I have to walk to my car. It is parked around the side of the row of houses. In that short distance, I often see my neighbours, stop to pat a dog I have come to know and laugh at, or just inquire how some one's family is, or trade a quick comment about the hockey game. I know many of my neighbour's names, I know their grand kids names, and I know most of all that if I needed something I could ask. How do I know this?? As a first-time homeowner, I have occasionally had to ask!!

When I talk to my friends whose kids are all tucked up in bed, I often hear that people don't know their neighbours. How sad! How can you celebrate with them? Show concern for them? Or just be in their lives, and how, PLEASE tell me HOW, will they ever know that God loves them and has a community of people waiting to love them?