Denton County Living Well Magazine November/December 2018 | Page 20

LOVE THY NEIGHBOR
By Michelle Wallace
K
ristin Schell is on a mission to love her neighbors.
She put a picnic table in her front yard, painted it
turquoise, and began inviting neighbors, friends,
and even strangers, to hang out and do life to-
gether at The Turquoise Table.
A new concept of hospitality unfolded in her neighborhood,
and before long The Turquoise Table led to a movement
of Front Yard People—ordinary people who long to create
community right where they live.
Kristen explains, “We live in a world where people profile
and label each other, size each other up. What if we shift-
ed our focus to our similarities? To welcoming one another,
listening to stories, learning from one another? It’s time to
change the conversation. I believe most social ills can be
healed or prevented by the simple act of talking to one
another, face-to-face, at a common table.”
What she shares perfectly describes what my husband and
I recently experienced. We moved into our new home about
six months ago. The house is a little more than we needed
but the quiet neighborhood and the big trees drew us in.
Since then we’ve undertaken a major Reno. Even though
we felt drawn here, at times it’s caused me to question our
choice. Then I think of the connections we’ve made. We
have fallen in love with our neighbors. It’s a diverse mix but
together we find community.
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DENTON COUNTY Living Well Magazine | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018
Some friends of ours are creating a new pilot based on this
concept of loving our neighbors. Only this neighborhood
isn’t perfectly fenced, with tree lined streets and manicured
lawns. These are homes in one of the most impoverished ar-
eas in the United States. The people have long lived with the
effects of extreme poverty; drug addiction, gang violence
and neglect. The concept for the TV series is for our friends
to move into one these dilapidated homes and restore it for
a family in need. They’ll share stories of the struggles the
people of the community face; a woman whose children
were taken from her when one of her sons accidentally
shot his brother. She was told the child would die but cried
out to God for his life and her son pulled through. Another
woman trying to keep her family home for her parents as
it literally falls down around her. The show shares the raw
story of her cycle in and out of addiction. These stories,
among others, are told of restoring homes and lives through
the simple act of loving our neighbor.
John 1: 14 from The Message version is so powerful! It tells
us, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into
the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous in-
side and out, true from start to finish.”
We can look at people from a distance and judge them or
we can be like Jesus. We can move into the neighborhood.