Made With Love

I moved to my current home about a year and a half ago. My neighbors are a cantankerous older couple that go out of their way to be unkind to our children. (yelling over the fence when we BBQ, yelling out the window if the kids grab a stray ball out of their driveway, banging on our door WAY after bedtime to complain about something they think we were responsible for, etc.)

It's been the oddest experience I've ever had with neighbors. I'm not really sure why they've decided they dislike our family so much. I've tried to ask them, but they slammed the door in my face while I was standing on their front porch. (and I thought that experience would end when I got home from my mission)

I've really done my best to avoid contact with them, because we seem to unknowingly annoy them so badly. I found that by ignoring them while they are peeking out the window or yelling across the yard,  I was getting more bitter toward them. The thought came to me several months ago that I should bake them a loaf of bread and secretly leave it with a kind note on their front door mat. I thought I must be losing my mind. I was NOT planning on stirring up that hornets nest! They scare me.

The thought has persisted for months now, but I brushed it off. I decided that putting their names on the temple prayer roll would be better. Maybe they are just angry about something else in life and choose to take it out on us or something. Week after week, I'd pray for them, add their names to the roll, try to ignore them and on it went, but over and over, "Just bake them some bread" kept coming back.

I finally gave in the other day. I got up early and gave myself a deadline of 10:30 am for delivery. I measured the ingredients so carefully. I kneaded and tucked the dough into the pans with the greatest care I've ever used. The loaves baked up to perfection! I chose the one that was the best looking and wrapped it in a beautiful tissue and added a note offering my assistant with anything they may need. (I noticed that the have an Oxygen In Use sign in their window now)

I delivered the package and waited and waited for the bundle to disappear. FINALLY they took it an hour later. I was ecstatic! My heart felt the most peaceful it had ever felt when I thought about these neighbors! I wondered what the consequences would be. Would they start warming up to us now? Would it soften their hearts? Had my prayers finally been answer? I learned the answer to those questions last night.

My children were playing with a volleyball in our yard, and it accidentally ended up in their driveway. The old man immediately opens his window and screams at my children to stay out of his yard! He then continued to yell profanities out the window until the kids finally just came inside.

Maybe he doesn't like whole wheat bread.

What I learned is that I didn't bake bread for my neighbors. I needed to bake that bread for me. I needed to serve someone who thoroughly dislikes me so that I could let my resentment go. It was a nasty feeling that had been growing inside me like a weed. I had asked the Lord to fix it. Instead of softening the heart of my enemy, He softened mine.