Recently, I encountered a situation that tested my patience and my faith. My neighbor’s dog left an unpleasant surprise on my lawn, and to my dismay, it seemed intentional. While some suggested retaliation, I chose a different path. Instead of responding with anger, I want to share a message of peace and understanding. It’s moments like these that remind us of the teachings of God—to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength, and to also love your neighbor as yourself. Let us reflect on how we can treat each other with more compassion, even when faced with challenges. Together, we can create a community built on respect and love.

Love Your Neighbor – Mark 12:31

The old me would have already been down to their house and smeared the dog’s surprise all over their front door. I probably would have said a few choice words and maybe thrown a few punches and had the cops called on me. But that person is long gone, God done changed me. Being caught up in the heat of the moment is not my thing anymore.

There used to be this lingering anger festering inside me that would just wait for something to happen so I would have an excuse to do whatever I wanted, so my response to problems would not be anything exceptional, if anything, my response was pretty pathetic. I never took the time to think things through, I just did whatever I felt like doing and faced the consequences of my actions later.

We all have parts of us that need changing, sides of our personality we know are not great. I am sure all of us can look back at situations in our life and now think of ways we could have done it better in the past. Some people may not have any regrets, maybe some people have had their life turn out exactly the way they planned it to happen, or close enough to have no regrets. I was for sure not one of those people.

From any early age I knew something was different about me. I never thought the world would last as long as it has now. When I was very young, I thought the world would have destroyed itself by now. I was always drawn to see the dark side of things, but to hope for the best. As a child, it just seemed the dark side of people always came out against me.

There was always a battle, an uphill climb to get to the lowest peak of anything. Was it weakness inside of me? Did I have a weak soul, or did I just have a kind soul that never fit in with the evil ways of the world? There always seemed to be something missing in my life. I could never quite grasp what was missing and could never quite find what I was looking for anyway.

Did I even know what I was looking for in the first place? There was a peace I was pursuing, some kind of peace that I just couldn’t seem to get my hands on. Every time I thought I would find something that would bring me peace, something would happen that would end in some level of disappointment.

It was this continual search for peace over and over again throughout my life that led me to the person I am today. Half the time, I never even realized I was searching for anything, I was just living my life I thought. This peace was not easy to come by for me. I went through many highs and many lows, but the journey, some forget the journey, but the journey is how you help other people through their journey.

I have not had a chance to talk to my neighbor who was walking the dog yet, but I did have a chance to talk to one of his roommates. I was watering my blueberries yesterday when I looked up and on the other side of the bushes was the neighbor with the white dog. He was letting his dog poop in my backyard.

I dropped my water hose and walked to the other side of the bushes and confronted the man. I was very kind, asking him if he was letting his dog poop in my yard. I learned his dog’s name, petted his dog, she is a very nice dog. I like her a lot.

She got loose today and ran over to my yard, she is still a little scared of me, but she’s cool. She didn’t go to the bathroom in my yard either, she just came over to investigate the dead snake that was in my yard today.

But yesterday, it was undeniable, he was letting his dog poop in my backyard. He had no bag, no intention of cleaning up the mess. He said he thought that was public property, and I was like, no, we just had to put our bushes 10 feet away from the road, but my yard goes all the way up to the road.

See, that is one of the problems with America these days, people think they can do whatever they want on public property. Everyone should know you have to clean up after your dog, even on public property, but too many people don’t care, they just keep crapping on America any chance they can get, and America lets them get away with it.

Is the problem that America now has a weak soul, too afraid the truth will hurt people’s feelings, or is it just that the majority of America has turned evil, fogging their mind so they see evil as good and good as evil?

Has everyone become that selfish that they only care about themselves, what they want, what they need? Has the American attitude become let everyone else do what they want to do as long as I get to do what I want to do?

When confronted, the neighbor went home and got a bag and cleaned up his dog’s poop. See, he had a bag at home all along, he just did what he could get away with doing. No one had ever questioned him before about not cleaning up after his dog.

God will let you get away with whatever you can get away with, but there will come a time when God will confront you and God will be kind to you, but God will still judge you on the choice you make.

So what? My neighbor let his dog trespass on my property and poop in my yard many times before, but then my neighbor had a change of mind once he was confronted with the truth. Was he sorry? Probably not. He just changed his mind when confronted with the truth because he realized what the truth was, that is what the Bible calls repentance.

I forgave him and now I talk to him all the time like nothing ever happened. I never told him I forgave him, that is between me and God. Sometimes you don’t need to tell people you forgive them, it is just evident that you did.

Jesus said, “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father [God] forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:15