With evening rapidly approaching, my young son ran up to me holding a book my mother use to read me. It’s a book full of short little poems and although it is not a new book by any means, the lessons it taught hold truer than I could ever have imagined. Joshua opened it up for me, saying, “Here. Start on this page.” The first little poem titled Near and Far* began softly with the words,
Little children far away,
“Cross the ocean wide,
“Though they do not look like us
Are the same inside.”
Initially I wondered if my five year old is understanding current events. Simultaneously my mind thought back to lessons learned at home. Lessons about right and wrong and humanity. With the Golden Rule** as a constant guide, it’s no wonder poems like Near and Far and TV shows like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood helped me grasp the greater command of Love your neighbor as yourself.*** A command of action.
Living out these lessons and sharing them with others does not require grand gestures and dramatic statements, but it does require action in love to step up and step out. After all, treating our neighbor as we want to be treated, in love and dignity, is necessary to restore our road home toward the reconciliation that God had in mind before the world began.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Reconciliation and Foot-Washing in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
* Near and Far by Kate Cox Goddard
**Matthew 7:12
*** Mark 12:30-31—-Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”
nehrely there 