It's not about the bananna bread!

We have new neighbors. Well, actually they've been here over 2 months so they're not really "new" anymore. Since the day they moved in my kids have been asking if we could go over and welcome them to the neighborhood. Of course, having every intention of doing so, I told them we'd make some banana bread and take it over. The first week end came and I said we should probably let them get settled a bit longer before parading over there. The second week end came and we were too "busy". The third week end came, and so did another excuse. You get the picture. As much as I wanted to step out of my comfort zone, and as much as I really did want the new neighbors to feel welcomed, I continued to allow silly excuses stop me... until two days ago!

My kids asked (for probably the 50th time) if we could go meet the new neighbors. I immediately started in with the excuse that it would be a better thing to do on the week end, and besides, I hadn't made the banana bread yet. My 9 year old's response stunned me! Without missing a beat, he fired back with "Mom, it's not about the banana bread". My 6 year old then followed that up with "yeah, we can just give them friendship". Talk about a one-two punch! I very quickly realized that I was out of excuses and the only thing left to do was to get over there!

So, I set aside whatever else we had going on, made that banana bread, and as soon as my husband got home from work we made the walk to the "new" neighbor's house. What a blessing it turned out to be! They invited us in and told us their story of moving here from another state, then shared that they really don't know anyone in the area. It meant so much to them that we had gone out of our way to come over that the mom even got tears in her eyes.

I left there that evening feeling bad that we hadn't done it sooner, but so glad that we finally had! The whole experience was an incredible reminder that we won't always be asked to do the comfortable or easy thing, but doing it anyway is the right thing, and we might just get surprised with an amazing blessing in the process.

It makes me think of the thousands of people who've participated in Hoops of Hope events around the world. Is shooting hundreds or thousands of free throws easy, or comfortable? No, not for most of us anyway. But, is doing something to help others the right thing to do? Absolutely! So, whether you've shot some free throws to help AIDS orphans in Africa, or ran a marathon to help find a cure for cancer, or even made some banana bread for your neighbor - whatever it is, let me just say thank you! Way to think beyond yourself and act it out to help make a difference in our world! You're an inspiration, and I hope that you've been as blessed as I feel I have been for stepping out and doing it even when it might not have been convenient or easy. Way to go!

Julie