Neighbors and Strangers

Yesterday our neighbor died. It was a sad day, a day I will remember for a long time. I am going to be very honest here. It hurts to have do so because the story I will tell you not the one I would like you to see.
I didn't know HER well , in fact I probably only had my first words with HER three days ago. SHE only lived a house away.
SHE was 48, same as me but SHE was nothing like me. SHE was always done up, I get done up and even the two -year -olds know I'm going somewhere. SHE mowed the lawn in the hot, hot, sun in very skimpy clothes...SHE often wore skimpy clothes...SHE seemed to have no decency. I don't wear skimpy clothes and try to be modest in my clothing choices. Besides...I know what I look like under my clothing. I hope SHE gets done before my husband get home!
SHE had a lot of energy. I have no energy, I go to bed tired and wake up the same way.
SHE spent a lot of time with our neighbor that also had a lot of energy. It was rumored he helped other people maintain their high level of energy.
HER nieces and nephews came down to play from time to time, they were always well behaved. But I didn't let the kids hang out down there. Children, that may have been the one secure bridge we had between us SHE and I but I never used it.
I was right to protect my children, I know that. I was sure there was going to be a police raid at some time and I didn't want my children down there when it happened.
The police did come, but is was late and my kids were in bed, it wasn't a raid. "D.O.A." the police officer said to the dispatcher in the darkness of the night. I still have to tell my children what happened. I'm not sure myself what happened. The only thing I am sure of this morning is I wasn't right to withhold my friendship or the daily kindnesses Christ modeled for me!
What SHE needed was....SHE really needed....a savior. SHE was tortured. Having a brother die at thirty five because he was locked into a life of alcoholism -I should have seen HER inner torture. But I was too busy, I had not made myself approachable. I prejudged HER
SHE was holding on to what women of the world hold on to so tightly -beauty -and time was encroaching on the beauty of HER youth.
Youth was eluding HER, and the body SHE prided herself in and flaunted so openly was betraying her with illness.
SHE was grasping on to what children of the world grasp on to, works as a means to salvation. And SHE worked consistently and SHE worked hard.
Pride had a stranglehold on HER and HER world was falling apart. I know all of this now, but now is too late.
SHE needed a friend to be the hands and feet of Christ because everything else was slipping away.
Someone said "It is easier to love your neighbor in general than the neighbor that lives next door." How true that has proved to be in my case. I learned more about HER after HER death than I ever learned in eight months of being HER neighbor. Each day is new in Christ, but SHE has no more days and life will never be the same for HER loved ones.
Please pray for those SHE left behind, HER grown up children, HER mother, nieces and nephews, friends, and the man who loved HER, and for neighbors like me that missed the opportunity to be Christbearers.