The Noisy Neighbor

My husband and I live on the second floor of a three story apartment building. The first few months we lived there we had a tenant above us. We barely noticed she was there. Then she moved and left a vacant space for about a month. A few weeks ago we got new neighbors...and they made their presence known.

Between the hours of 9:00 pm and 3:00 am they could be heard stomping around on the floor. I know it isn't their fault if the floors creak, but this was not just from normal walking. It sounded like they were playing tag, running back and forth at all hours.

Even though I am in and out of our home all day, I never saw them. Being able to afford high rent in spite of apparently never going to work and keeping odd hours,  there was only one possible explaination-they must be drug dealers. Yes, in my pregnant paranoia I became the noisy neighbor from Bewitched.

This past weekend I finally caught a glimpse of them heading into their apartment. They were much younger than me. Now, I know this is when the youth pastor side should have prevailed and mercy should have taken over, but my hormones temporarily blocked that.

Andy has to get up at 4:30 am to go to work, which meant their lifestyle was keeping him from sleep he desperately needed. I'm eight months pregnant and fighting for every minute of sleep I can get before our baby arrives. With this in mind, our limit was reached and Andy decided to go give them a piece of our tired minds and tell them they had better start keeping it down.

As he headed up the stairs, I waited just inside our ajar door, listening for the outbreak of a fight or gunshots or whatever was to come from the surely impending altercation (you know, because they are clearly cartel).

But I didn't hear any of that.

Instead, I heard Andy introduce himself very kindly as the downstairs neighbor (this didn't surprise me, because he is very kind even if he did get worked up over lack of sleep). Immediately a voice cut him off. No, not a drug lord, but rather a young woman saying, "I know why you're here. I'm really sorry for the noise." Then I heard her introduce Andy to their young son as her boyfriend joined her to add his apologies.

No, they weren't drug dealers. They were young, overwhelmed parents.

When Andy returned he told me that their son gets out of his crib in the middle of the night and that's why we hear running late in the evening. He's also learning to walk, so those "thuds" were just his attempts to reach milestones. They felt so bad they asked to bring us dinner to make amends.

Possible scenarios began to flood my mind again. Maybe this is their first time on their own. Maybe they really don't have a concept of how frustrating it is to live beneath that noise. Maybe they were kicked out of their homes based on poor decisions that were made. Maybe they needed someone to be kind and show mercy, so that they could know about a kind and merciful God. Maybe I needed to remember that in a few months I will need that same mercy as my son begins to find his place in the world.

Lord, forgive me for allowing selfishness to override the call you put on me to go to the least of these. Help me to show love and kindness to those who struggle around me and teach me to see them as souls and not lost causes.