"A Tale of Two Gardens" or "The Choice I Elected"

This is the time of year when migrating flocks of birds swoop into the tree in our backyard, feast on the purple berries there, and swoop on. They glide and turn as one, so many flecks of pepper against the grey clouds. We watch and listen through the big kitchen window, the swoosh of their many wings audible even through the glass that separates us.    

We watch, amazed at the sight and at the Creator who orchestrates it all, from flight plan to berry-bearing shrub. The new neighbors behind us, the ones who transformed their yard from a nature sanctuary (fashioned more by the previous owner’s neglect than intent) into a flat plane of grey tile with an island of artificial turf, were not so entranced. The berries knocked loose by the birds stained that new tile. Could we trim the tree so it didn’t hang over their yard anymore?

We do not share the new neighbors’ vision of an ideal yard. In fact, when they first started hacking off every green thing in sight, I had a lot of difficulty with it. But then God showed me something. These neighbors have roots in Morocco or Turkey or some such dry, dusty place where paved inner courtyards are the desired norm. They even put a high, solid wall all around their yard to create more of a courtyard-as-extension-of-the-dwelling. I, on the other hand, try to cover the fences and walls around our yard with vines so that not being inside feels even more like going outdoors.

But would we trim our tree? Of course, and not just grudgingly because they had the right to ask it. I do not agree with their choice of a yard, but I respect their right to make that choice. I have a choice, too. I can label those new neighbors as all kinds of things because they do not share my view of an ideal yard. Or I can see these new neighbors as neighbors. We can choose to focus on what we share: the desire to live together in a cordial neighborhood.

As summer fades and more and more birds fly south, you and I will have many opportunities to make similar choices. Will you and I focus on our differences? Will we let those differences harden into name-calling and defensive dislike? Or will we choose to focus on our common goals and listen for ways we can work together to achieve them? I elect to do the later. What do you choose?