LOVE THY NEIGHBOR?

For the past 8 years I hoped this was a figure of speech. You see, our neighbors enjoy owning really big ((read, LOUD)) trucks, and they run them--endlessly--just a few yards away from our living room. We've prayed extensively, tried reason and negotiation, and finally decided we have to move.

I. Couldn't. Take. It. Anymore.

But evidently we had unfinished business loving our neighbors, per God's command.

About a month ago they were working on one of the aforementioned trucks ((start, stop, rev, start, stop, rev, start, stop, rev)) when my nerves were finally stretched so tight I was ready to poke their eyes out. I begged my hub to go over and beat some sense into them.

Hubby sighed and put on his shoes, and I'm like, "Oh yeah, here it comes!" I peeked through the blinds, bobbing and weaving with my fists in the air like I'm ready to watch Smackdown. Hubby approaches the neighbor as I ready my cell phone to call 911 because the showdown has begun.

Then my hub reaches out and shakes the dudes hand, and the dude smiles. SMILES.

WHAT?! There was NOT supposed to be smiling involved. Then hubby comes back inside and tells me that he introduced himself and offered to help the guy finish working on his truck so the noise would stop sooner. The guy apologized, then stopped working on his truck. WHAT?!?!

Fast forward a few weeks.

Noisy dude is starting his truck. It runs for the first 20 mins (rumbling our floor), then the next 20 mins, then after an hour I go outside, prepared to share a piece of my mind. I approach, ready to let him have it, then suddenly......

......a peace comes over me. I calmly tell him our problem, and he sweetly apologizes. And for multiple days not a peep can be heard next door.

Until last week when it started again, I mentioned it to a 3rd party, kind of upset because I didn't want to cause trouble since we were starting to get along with them. Later that day I received a note on the door saying sorry for the noise, he didn't realize we were home.

Now we WAVE and smile at one another!!! This, in itself, is a miracle. I am here to tell you that loving your neighbor is not a figure of speech. It does not only mean loving your figurative neighbor. And before we move, I think God wanted this business finished. Honestly, now that we've started making peace (after 8 long years), the noise even bothers me less. (Although if you could hear these unmufflered monster trucks 5 yards from my window, you'd be amazed. Even the dude admitted that his wife is annoyed by the truck shaking the pictures on their walls.)

DO YOU LOVE YOUR NEIGHBORS? Also, prayers still appreciated for the quick sale of our home :D