You know why I wrote How to Love Your Neighbor Without Being Weird? Because I was a bad neighbor, and I was definitely weird. Here’s how God dealt with my reluctance to lay my daily planner on the altar, as featured in a guest post with my friend Twyla at The Uncommon Normal.

What Loving My Neighbors Looks Like: A Journey From Greed to Gratitude

When God nudged me to love my neighbors – my actual neighbors, the people living right next door – it sounded fun at first. I felt the Lord was leading me to teach a neighborhood Bible study in my home. I was going to call it “The Rosewood Café” since I lived on Rosewood Drive, and sketched a cute little logo in my journal. I envisioned friends laughing over coffee, Bibles spread open on my kitchen table.

Then I realized I had never led a Bible study, let alone written or taught one… and then there was the eensy-weensy obstacle that I didn’t even know my neighbors.

Excuses quickly piled up and overcame these strange ideas that had started to creep in. “I don’t have time to go talk to my neighbors, make friends, invite them into my home, and figure out what we’re going to talk about!” I reasoned, “God has blessed me with a good job, a busy family, and responsibilities at church. This must be what He wants me to focus on for this season of my life.”

When I argued that I didn’t have time, God showed me…