“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”—Mark 12:30-31

When I moved into our neighborhood ten years ago, I decided I was going to organize a ladies neighborhood Pokeno group so that I could meet my neighbors. I got one of my next door neighbors to go with me to knock on doors and hand out the flyers. I had the first get together at my house. 

From that, I met women that I would not have met because we were in different phases of our life. One of those was my guest blogger in October, Debbie. We live in a neighborhood that is a circle and her house is on the other side where I would not see her coming and going to get to know her. At that time she and her husband did not  have children, so our paths most likely wouldn’t have crossed.

When God calls us to love our neighbor,  it may literally mean that you love the people who live in your immediate neighborhood. However, He is also calling you to love all those around you. What about your “neighbor” that is sitting next to you on the airplane? Or the person next to you at the car dealership as you wait on your car? Your "neighbor" is whoever you have an opportunity to interact with during your day.

Being a knitter, more often than not, when I am knitting in public, someone will ask me what I am making. This is the perfect opportunity to love my neighbor and share my knitting ministry. I know it can be scary but God has empowered us with the Holy Spirit to choose love over indifference. If you take the time to lift up your eyes and look around you, God will give you the opportunity to talk to a "neighbor" that might need some kindness in their day.

Since April is Stress Awareness month, if you don’t knit or crochet, consider loom knitting. It is also relaxing and calms your mind. What ministry has God put you in to show His love to those around you? Could Knit, Pray, Share be a ministry you can do? If you don’t knit or crochet, why not try loom knitting? You can easily make hats, scarves and even a cozy for a coffee cup. YouTube has a TON of tutorials on how to do this.

Dear Lord,

Help me to reach out to whoever may be my neighbor this week. I ask that you give me a heart of love and not indifference. Help me to see the opportunities around me to love those put in my pathway…from people I don't know to my family, friends, coworkers and neighbors. I thank You that, You can use someone like me to share Your love to others. It is in the mighty name of Jesus that I pray these things. Amen!

If you are memorizing this month’s memory verse, “This is the day the Lord has made, let me rejoice and be glad in it.”—Psalm 118:24 have you made it a habit to repeat  each morning before you get out of bed?

If you are making any Threads With Red gifts to give away this month, please make sure you tweet @ThreadsWithRed or share your projects on the Knit Pray Share Facebook page or Instagram using the hashtags #ThreadsWithRed #KnitPrayShare.