Neighborly Love

Last night I had an epiphany (or I as I commonly call it God giving me a good slap upside my head) that I was not such a good neighbor. I was conversing with the other mom's at my daughters ballet class and one of the other mothers had mentioned my next door neighbor's name and I mentioned back to her that this woman was my next door neighbor and I said she is a beautiful woman and  she has the best kids and that in fact all the kids in my neighborhood were wonderful children and they must have great mothers. Then she looked puzzled and asked "You don't know their Mothers." I told her not really and that we do the old smile and wave at each other when we pass each other in the car and sometimes we might even talk to each other at the mailboxes, but other than that there is no interaction with them. I really felt convicted. I know God calls us to love our neighbor, but I wanted to know if there was more in the Bible on this subject so I looked in my concordance under neighbor and found that the definition is: one living nearby. These are the verses it led me to: Leviticus 19: 15-18 it says - 15 'You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly. 16 'You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor; I am the LORD.¹⁷ 'You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD. Well I know I don't hate my neighbors and haven't wronged them in any way that I know of but I can't say that I love them. I see these beautiful women/mothers come and go and sacrifice themselves for their families daily and yet I feel no bond. The bond should be we are mothers and we are more alike than we are different. I am feeling called to reach out to these women and let them know that what they are doing as mothers is working because their kids are always polite, courteous, loving children and beyond that they all truly seem filled with a joy that overflows to others. I know as a mom I love hearing that my children are these things. Since it is so close to Valentines Day, I am going to share some neighborly love with the fabulous mom's in my culdesac. I am giving them teacups wrapped up with some of my favorite tea and some chocolates. I am also including this note: I know the burdens of being a mom can sometimes bring us down and cause us to be frazzled but know that all of your efforts are working and not going unnoticed. When I am out and I see your children they are always polite, courteous, and respectful but most of all they seem filled with a joy which overflows onto whoever they are around. On this Valentines Day I wanted to show you some Neighborly (Motherly) Love with a small gift as a reminder you are a good mom. I also would like to share a Bible verse with you, it is my go to verse when I am feeling burdened and frazzled. It is Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. I pray you will take 5 minutes out of your busy day and give yourself a rest. A good cup of tea out of a pretty cup and chocolate always makes me feel better. Happy Valentines Day!
Dear Lord thank you for showing me love daily and may the joy you've placed inside of me flow onto others!

More snow equals more comfort food. Praying for warmer days!
Beef Stew
3 tablespoons olive oil

2 pounds stew beef, cut into bite sized pieces

salt and pepper to taste

3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch thick circles

2 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
10 small potatoes, halved or 5 large potatoes ,quartered
1 large onion, roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
4 cups beef broth/stock
4 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons flour

Heat oil in a Dutch Oven on medium high. Salt and pepper beef to taste and place in pan. Cook beef until all sides are seared and browned. Lower your heat to medium and add in carrots, celery and garlic, cook for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

 Add in the potatoes and onions and at this point I like to add in more pepper over the potatoes and onions. Cause that's the way Big Daddy likes it.  

Place your broth/stock over beef and veggies stirring once add in your bay leaf and heat for about and hour stirring occasionally. When beef and veggies are tender take out bay leaf and discard.

Raise your heat back up to medium high. Put your milk in a small bowl add in your flour and whisk until flour is blended. Pour milk/flour mix into the stew, stirring constantly until well blended and stew is thickened.

Goes great with whole wheat biscuits!!