A lesson in Christian forbearance and forgiveness
I have an upstairs neighbor who apparently thinks that no noise at all should be made by us. Nicole and I make it a point to try and be good neighbors..we don't like it when people are overly loud, so we try purposefully not to be loud ourselves. Last night my upstairs neighbor, after repeatedly banging on the floor (which is our ceiling) accused me of having the TV on too loud.I might be able to accept that, except that Nicole and I gave up TV for Lent. Our television was not even on. We do have the radio on, but it is often barely audible, and it is always on talk radio, never music. If our neighbor heard anything, it was our shared voices in normal daily conversation. We can't help it that the walls of the building are so thin. Having lived in an apartment building before, I know that you will hear "noises" all the time. There is a difference between routine noises and disturbing ones. (No other neighbor has complained about being disturbed by noise coming from our apartment, and if we are as loud as our neighbor claims, our next-door neighbors would surely be bothered.) In the most hateful tone I can ever remember being spoken to in he accused us of "disturbing his serenity" and said the building was much quieter before we moved in...then he slammed the door in my face!
As awful an experience as this was, it is a lesson in Christian patience, forbearance, and even forgiveness. At first, it was a hard thing not to have rotten feelings toward my neighbor for treating us the way he did, and having so little understanding. As difficult as it is, though, I refuse to hold bad feelings against the man. Every time they seep in, I remind myself that maybe he also feels this way, and that bitterness repaid in kind does not reap less bitterness, but creates more. Pray for us, and for our neighbor, too...that somehow in his life he can come closer to God and learn to love his neighbors. Pray that we may continue to love this neighbor in spite of himself.
posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 8:48 AM
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