Before 9AM

 “We do more before 9AM than most people do all day.”  (Click to view ad) I thought of that iconic line from a recruiting ad for the US Army, that aired back in the 1980s, this morning. Our neighbors, who snow-bird in Arizona every winter, are coming home today. These people have been so good to us since we moved into our current home six years ago. And we look for opportunities to do nice things for them. 

Jill and I are usually out of bed by around 5AM, although this morning I slept in a bit. We spent time together this morning checking email, Jill writing letters to her brother and our daughters, as she does every morning, and I doing my morning crossword and a few other online games. We had a little breakfast, got dressed and then got busy. 

We had planned to prepare a meal for Tom and Debbie, so they wouldn’t have to go grocery shopping before they could have dinner. Jill got busy making lasagna, while I prepared for a painting project we have planned for one day this week. After the lasagna was assembled, Jill baked lemon bars for the dessert. She also has a salad planned to go with these treats. 

While she was finishing up, I bottled some home-brew for Tom, who seems to enjoy my brews, and made a label for the bottle. Then I came in and took over the kitchen, so I could make another one of his favorites, my pizza dough bread. I have to admit that, by the time the bread was baked, we were eating lunch. So, we didn’t get it all done by 9AM, but then those soldiers are mostly not 78 years old, either. It felt like what I like to call “a full rich day.” 

A few minutes ago, the nabes pulled into their driveway after coming all the way from Reno, NV, about an 8-9 hour drive. We peeked out and saw them doing some things to make their house habitable again, like turning on the water and such. The second time I peeked out, here’s what I saw hovering over their home: 

I sent a copy to Tom & Debbie by text, and she asked if I had planned that. I told her, “I think God is welcoming you home, too!” 

There’s a story in the book of Matthew that goes like this: 

And one of them, a lawyer, asked [Jesus] a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”  And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:35-40, bracketed material edited for clarity) 

Often when we think of God’s commandments, we think, “Thou shalt not…” In this case, though, Jesus uses you shall, statements. You SHALL love God, and you SHALL love your neighbor. That’s a little more positive, don’t you think?  In fact ALL of God’s commandments are really invitations to do the right thing. And when you look at them that way, they become not a burden but a joy. Right there in verse 40 Jesus says, "On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” In Hebrew parlance the Law and the Prophets refers to the Jewish Scriptures, which in Christian parlance is called “The Old Testament,” or “The Old Covenant.”  In other words, the central message of the first 39 books of the Bible is, “You need to love God and you need to love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.” 

Remember when I said that God’s commandments are not a burden but a joy?  If you would like to see that joy in action, come by our neighborhood some time. The neighbors around us truly love one another. We never need to wonder whom we will get to help us with something. We just ask, and like as not, we get more volunteers than we know what to do with. If you have kids, you may know that the best way for someone to melt your heart is for that person to do something nice for your kids. And God, our Heavenly Father, is no different. He gets joy from seeing his children love one another. How do we do that? The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth: 

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a)

So, that brings me to the Great Commandment of the Law: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” When we love our neighbors as we love ourselves, that’s essentially loving God through His kids. If you want things a little more nuanced, you can read the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17)  If you do that and think about what you are reading, you will note that the first four are all about loving God, and the remaining six are about loving your neighbor, which is what? Loving God. 

So, today, we did a lot, some of it before 9AM, and did I mention how good it feels to be able to do things again without being fatigued after fifteen minutes?  Loving our neighbors. It was pure joy to prepare a dinner for our friends and to welcome them home after six long months. Even if it had taken us until 9PM, it would have been worth it…although they probably would have been asleep by then!