If garage door openers are neighbor killers, the answer is found at our mailboxes. Some houses have mailboxes in hallways, at community boxes, or at the edge of the road, so it’s more efficient for the postal worker. The solution to the garage door opener problem is the mailbox.
It’s the nature of our flesh to look out for OUR best. That’s why we do what we can to get parked and inside our house as quickly as we can. 37 Seconds is all it takes me. Who wants to struggle with a heavy door, get wet, or have to walk far with groceries? Not this girl. I appreciate a time and labor saving device. You?
“Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor” (1 Cor. 10:24).
To seek the good of our neighbor, do we have to heave the door on our own? Not if you have a mailbox. Taking time to pause at the mailbox provides the perfect opportunity to wave, smile, be seen, or even chat that the garage door opener kills. It leaves room for an opportunity to happen. The mailbox helps us overcome what our efficiency spoils.
How about walking to your mailbox (instead of doing the drive-thru pull up motion), standing there to look through your mail, and then pausing to look around and pray for those living near you … your Neighbors? I wonder what might happen if you did. Could you make yourself stand at your mailbox for 37 seconds?
It may not win you a prize for efficiency, but that intentional mailbox pause will provide opportunity to seek the good of your neighbor.
Tomorrow we’ll look at Day #2 of the Ready, Set REACH! study designed to help prepare anyone looking to reach out to neighbors where they live or around the world. Next week we’ll look at a couple more neighbor killers and how to overcome them. No mail is involved. š
What else is keeping you from loving your near Neighbor? I’m going to stand at the mailbox for 37 seconds and think about that … 
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