In
the neighborhood of my early childhood, most of the kids that I knew and played
with lived nearby. There were nine to sixteen of us in this half-block area and
we spent much of our time, as kids of that era did, playing outside. The dads
were away at work during the day and the moms stayed home, so we did have adult
supervision of a sort. Not that the moms knew everything that we did, but they
had their ways of keeping track of us. I can't say that any of us remained
close friends, but we got along for the most part and when we didn't we'd somehow
work things out. We were truly a middle-class, blue-collar neighborhood and we
all knew the unwritten rules. In our own way, we were a tight-knit group.
Occasionally, we'd get a "new kid on the block" and two of those
stand out in my memory.
Susie
Gates was a redheaded, freckle-faced spitfire. She and her mother moved into
the basement apartment right next to us and I have no recollection of how long
they lived there, but it wasn't very long. We quickly became acquainted; she
loved to play dolls and dress-up, but usually wore dresses and didn't like to
get dirty, so our friendship ran hot and cold. One summer day when I was down
visiting in her place, I told of how the neighbor on the other side of our
house had a large patch of rhubarb. Susie's mom told us that if we would go and
pick some, she would make us a rhubarb pie. Of course I knew better, but that
pie sounded wonderful and so I led Susie to the spot and we sneakily stole some
rhubarb. Returning to the apartment, my mouth began to water for that pie, but
Susie's mom told me it was time for me to go home and I never got a bite. That
made me angry and I confessed to my mom what we had done. I said it was OK
because Susie's mom had told us to, but Mom set me straight in no time.
"They may be having tough times," she said, "but you still need to do what you know is
right."
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11
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