Love your neighbour

God says love your neighbor as yourself, and that is the only restraint keeping me from banging my neighbors' door. They aren't particularly mean folks, but they are Noisy! Misanthropes don't like to hear others' raised voices, rattling toys,and blasting TV. Why come and live beside a nature reserve if they want to make such a h*ell lot of noise all the time? But God says love your neighbour, so I only gnash my teeth quietly and try not to glare at them when we meet at the lift lobby.

And I complained to God whenever they are noisy, which is to say, I complain incessantly. It is hard enough for misanthropes to bear with people, let alone inconsiderate ones. How can I put up with them?

Yesterday, God showed me that peace and prosperity isn't a normal state of life. Generations of people lived through turmoil and poverty. They survived too, they went on living. And here I am, living beside a nature reserve and not enjoying it just because I don't like my neighbors. How much more spoilt and foolish can I be?

Pastor preached that if one is filled with the Holy Spirit, the love of God will fill you so much that you won't be able to help loving others. Oh Lord, I need that kind of anointing, if only for my own peace. Fill me with the Holy Spirit, at least, enough for me not to find my neighbors irritating.