Selfishness and a lesson learned

Well, we have finished the cleanup from the storm Tuesday night, and are now gearing up for the storm on Saturday!! Just in time for our open house of course. In total yesterday, I spent 4 hours shovelling snow. The snow pile at the end of our driveway in front of our shed has grown over the top of the shed. The snow pile on our front lawn is taller than me. And I am so sore!!

We have been blessed with incredible neighbours, we share our driveway with them. I cannot even begin to tell you how caring and kind they have been. They are like our family, and I am going to miss them so much when we move. Peter has a snowblower, and not only does he do our driveways, he also does all the sidewalks on our side of the street. He also does as many driveways as he can, even those who own a snowblower get their drivweway done. He goes around the block and does driveways there too. He is always thinking of others before himself. His wife, Brenda is much the same, she is such a sweetheart!

The neighbour across the street is quite the opposite. He is selfish, he never talks to us unless he is bragging about something, he is rude and thinks only of himself. He has called the city on us a number of times when we have been renovating and we have some things in the driveway, and the city comes by and tells us not to worry, this guy is known to them for complaining.

As I was shoveling yesterday, the snow plow came by. Not just a plow, a road grader. So, I started shoveling away, not really knowing where I was going to lift this stuff to. Peter was not home, so I got a head start so I could at least get my van out for him to use the snow blower. Do you know, that this neighbour came out, blew out his driveway, and then waltzed back inside again? As did the neighbour on the other side of me - My dh, my neighbour and I have all helped this one shovel his driveway, and he gave us nary a glance! And he is Christian! More on this later...

So, the afternoon comes, and Peter arrives home from work. He got out the snowblower, and a bearing blew. He managed to get most of the driveway done, but there was still a lot to go and it was heavy. So, out came the shovels again. Peter has had a heart attack, and shouldn't be shovelling. Brenda was suffering too, so I relieved her and kept on. Another neighbour came and helped out. I am sure the man and his wife across the street were sitting there with a bowl of popcorn and watching the action with glee, gloating that they were done, and too bad for us peasants. Brenda sais to me, "Well, that is some Christian attitude, isn't it?" That got me thinking about me and how I appear to others.

Well, I got more and more angry as the day went on. The number of times we have come to their rescue when their schizophrenic son has come over and threatened to kill them, shovelled their snow and looked out for their house. And he couldn't lift a hand to help us. Occasionally he has done his neighbours drive, but that is few and far between. Why are people like this? You should have seen the hurt on Peter and Brenda's faces to realize that no one was going to help them.

So, right there and then, I decided that I was not going to go and help the other neighbours any more. If they are going to be like this, then don't count on me for help. You know, along the lines of "don't let the door hit you on the way out". But, I realized that I am not wired this way, and could not be like this, no matter how hard I tried. If someone needed help, I would help. I also realized that I have been just as selfish and mean as these neighbours,not only to people I perhaps don't know, but to my own family. And does God wash His hands of me and say, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out?" Not a chance! He always welcomes me back and helps me out again. Usually I remember to say I'm sorry to Him, but sometimes I don't, and He still welcomes me back with open arms.

I did learn a lesson, and it wasn't what I thought. I actually thought I was going to be teaching someone a lesson on what it feels like to be on the receiving end of mean. I thought I would post on here today ranting about mean people, which I did to a degree. But I also have seen a bigger picture, perhaps gaining a little bit of God's perspective too.