Kind Neighbours Remembered
by Sue
I remember as a child living in a small house with a lovely green area outside with a very large oak tree in the middle of the green. I loved to look out of the downstairs front room window and watch people like the coalman delivering his coal and also the dustbin men, lifting the heavy metal bins and carrying them up the road to dump the contents into their truck. One of them could have been my future husband’s dad as I later learned that he was a dustbin man in the area in which we lived.
Our neighbours were always very kind to my family, knowing that we had additional needs. Mrs Riley was a lovely lady and a good neighbour who helped my mum. She would often offer to take me to school when she was taking her own young son to school – to save my mum the extra effort to get my younger brothers John and Jim ready too. On cold mornings she would offer me a sweet or two on the way to school - sometimes a cough candy or Victory V, to warm me up inside. She would always hold my hand to keep me safe on the way. She was a very kind lady.
Mrs Murray was another lovely neighbour who was also very understanding. She worked as a teacher at a Catholic school somewhere locally, so knew a lot about children.
Mrs Mortimer was also kind to my mum and was a very good friend. She had children too and was an understanding lady and a good listener and encourager.
Mrs Monday and her husband were nice as was their youngest daughter who was about my age. They would take me fruit picking along the Southend Arterial Road, which, in those days didn’t see anywhere near as many cars as it does today. Many people didn’t have cars in those days and we would walk along beside the hedgerows picking blackberries.
I was about five years old when I remember seeing a very old barn in a field nearby and could see right inside where there was an old metal bed with a torn old mattress laying on it. I actually thought that someone might still live there and that they most likely had gone out to buy something to eat. And I remember feeling so sorry for that person living like that. My mum and dad had always taught me that we should be thankful for the food that we had to eat and for the clothes we had to wear, and for a bed to sleep in and a roof over our head.
Having learned that, I felt sorry for any person living like that. Maybe it was just a plain old barn that hadn’t been lived in for many years and had been left empty. But even at that young age, it made me think about those worse off than me.
My mum and dad were good parents despite the difficult situations they faced in life and the Lord blessed them with good friends and neighbours who cared for them and helped them. After our fruit picking, it was nice to take home the fruit for my mum to make a lovely blackberry pie, which was always delicious which we ate the next day.
The Bible tells us to love our neighbours and to do good to those who hate us. We learn a lot of lessons in life and my blessed Lord and Saviour certainly did teach me some important lessons, even when I was a small child. Yes, people can be very different in nature and in character, but all are people – God’s creation, and the Lord loves us in spite of our human failings or shortcomings.
The Lord Jesus Christ – God’s only begotten Son. paid the price for all of mankind’s sin. Jesus is saying to us all – Come to me my children, let me love you.
The clearest picture of this we see as Jesus hung on the Cross at Calvary, His body broken as He bore in His body our sin and paid the price - bleeding as He shed His blood to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
He calls – will you answer?