We tried to give it away to people we knew=no dice...I suggested we put a sign on it that said "FREE!" We agreed to try and give it to our neighbors on either side, offering it to whomever we encountered first.
I am not very neighborly. If I see the neighbors on our right, I usually say hello. They attend our church, their kids have cared for our animals over the years when we've been out of town, and I've taken care of their rabbits when they've gone on vacation. But long conversations? Neighborly chit chat? Not so much..I have a key to their house but don't know much about them besides their names, their kids names, and that they have a basement. But I'm probably more connected with them than any other family on our street.
Neighbors on the left? Met them once about 2 months after we moved in 8 years ago when I forced myself to attend a cul-de-sac block party. I only remembered that their names are Jim and Colleen because a former pastor and his wife were named the same. They have a lot of cars, 2 kids, and a small white dog that Marni likes to chase through the fence in the backyard. If I see Jim mowing the lawn out front and I catch his eye we do the head nod thing.
Maybe it would seen like we should have just offered the mulch to the neighbors who attend our church...I would have felt more comfortable walking up to their front door to offer it, although I didn't even want to bother with that (LAZY!) I figured I'd just see who we saw first.
So yesterday I was outside watering the flowers and Jim drove up into his driveway. Here was the opportunity! I waited till he and his wife got out of the car and called over, "Jim?" He looked at me like he was surprised I knew his name. I trotted over to them and asked if they could use some mulch, we had purchased too much. He asked, "Are you looking to sell it?" and I said no--just take it. He looked incredulous, said he was about to order some himself but if he could have mine that would save him from having to do that (and a load of $!) They thanked me and I trotted back to the house and joyfully reported to Mark that Jim would take the mulch. Yay! I could park in the driveway again!
For the rest of the afternoon, I snuck peaks at Jim and his wife shoveling mulch into their wheelbarrow and hauling it back up their driveway to their backyard. This took them several hours but I was just happy to see it go!
Right before dinner I looked out and it was gone! All of it! They had even swept up the end of the driveway, folded the tarp it was dumped on, placed a rock on top of it (so it wouldn't blow away), and put it at our garage door. Yay! Done! No more mulch.
This morning when I walked down the driveway to start my run, I spotted our mailbox...and thought...and walked over...and looked inside...and it was empty...and darn it, if I didn't feel some type of way about it! No thank you note? OH but then I felt such a strong conviction in my soul and was immediately humbled. So what if they didn't write a thank you note? Luke 6:35 says (about enemies but I believe it applies to all!) "Give without expecting anything in return". I didn't give them the mulch so I could get a thank you note, an invite to swim in their pool, or so we'd now become best neighbors...I gave it to them because I felt neighborly (for the first time in a long time) and we wanted it gone. And, further, I kinda think that God allowed them to be the recipients (being the first ones I saw) so we could extend a gift to them without expecting anything back. If I were the recipient of such a gift--yes--I would write a thank you note. But that's me! And just because everyone else isn't like me doesn't make them wrong.
Thank YOU, Lord, for these lessons in humility... :)
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