In Deed and Truth

"Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." - 1 John 3:18

Today, I finished my first official week of law school!  (Last week was "orientation" but we still had class 3 days of the week with reading and homework)  After a long week of reading, reading, and more reading, I came home and just wanted to go to the gym to let out all the stress and tension - I went twice this week, so hopefully I can keep that up throughout the semester...I will go crazy just sitting around and reading/studying all day.

Anyway, as I was going down my driveway, I see my new neighbors moving in - a young family with 2 little kids.  My thoughts?  "Oh cool, new neighbors."  Then I keep driving, get out of my sub, and think, "umm...shouldn't I have introduced myself to them and maybe offered to help them with their moving in?"  5 years ago, I don't think that thought would've ever entered my mind.  Those who know me know that it's in my nature to be kind of shy and quiet (especially when first meeting me).  It's definitely worlds different from 5 years ago, but it's still something that's a part of me.  And on top of that, I've never really been that great at talking with adults (crazy thing is, I am one now...wow). 

I keep driving, and as I drive more and more, I also feel more and more burdened.  I rationalized, "You know what, maybe I'll just go work out and then I'll come back and introduce myself and maybe help them move stuff if they're still working on it."  Nope, nice try.  My workout would probably be around an hour, and then there's half an hour total for driving time.  There's no way they'd still be moving stuff out of that U-Haul by then.  This is the perfect opportunity to be a channel of God's love to these newcomers who don't know anybody here, and if I go work out now, I'll miss this great chance.  God kept tearing away at my insides and convicting me the more I went.  So when I was halfway to the gym, I decided to turn around and go back to my sub. 

Thankfully, they were still moving stuff in when I got back home (okay, it was like 10-15 minutes, but I'm glad anyway).  I kinda stood in my driveway awkwardly until they came back out to take another load inside, and then I went over and introduced myself (after saying a short prayer that God would take away my reservations and help me step outside of my comfort zone).  I also asked if they needed help moving anything, to which the guy replied "No, I think we're good. Wouldn't want to burden you too much as a neighbor on the first day. Thanks for offering though!"  haha yeah, so they're really nice and they have a sense of humor too.  We chatted for a couple minutes, then I went off to the gym again.

I'm looking forward to getting to know these new neighbors better.  They are a really young and nice family, and is the first new family in the sub that has moved in since I've been an adult (so it's not so much of a hierarchical relationship; i.e. I can call them by first name instead of Mr./Mrs so and so).  I think deep down I am a visionary person with big ideas (DESPITE my "S" ranking on Myers Briggs...) and so I have all these ideas about having their family over for dinner and whatnot..haha.  I don't really know what the relationship will look like, but I think it would be great to have a friendship with the neighbors.

You know, we go through all these sermons, training, lessons, etc. that tell us to love God and neighbor.  We even share with each other in small groups, accountability, and discipleship about how determined we are to be the hands and feet of Jesus (and genuinely, too).  Yet from experience I can say that unfortunately there is often a discrepancy between mouth and hands.  It is WAY easier said than done.  So easy to say you will go out and love your neighbor (and mean it!), but when the time comes, it's not so easy, is it? 
I encourage everyone to step out of that comfort zone and just do it.  For me, God taught me a great lesson today: enough with the lip service (I'll be doing plenty of that in my future career), start loving your neighbors in deed and truth.

Another really big (and hugely encouraging) lesson God has taught me lately is that He isn't done with me yet!  I know it seems kind of obvious, that He has plans for our whole lives, but I was worried that I peaked/plateaued in undergrad, and that the rest would be downhill.  I was worried that I would have lots of trouble making new friends at law school and beyond, and that I wouldn't really be able to have much of a chance for service and ministry anymore.  But nope.  There are countless new people I'm meeting.  So many opportunities to learn and to share and to be that channel of God's love that I am called to be.  In my legal career, I am looking forward to serving God and neighbor through justice.  I look forward to being an instrument of God's love and justice to my clients.
If you guys have any similar experiences where God convicted you to do something, feel free to share in the comments.  I'd love to hear your story!