Fences and Gates

An old expression goes,

"Fences make the best neighbors."

The first thing I did when we moved into our new house was build a fence. I hated to do it. But it had to happen. My one neighbor has a big dog, we have three little kids. Not the best combination, even before you throw in my oldest daughter's irrational fear of animals.
So we worked together and built a nice neighborly fence, the kind you lean on and talk to each other, not the big privacy kind. But it still felt odd. Not the kind of example I wanted to set.
But this past weekend my other neighbor and I built a gate in the fence that was there before we moved in. Our kids were constantly jumping the fence to go between their play set and our trampoline. So it was time to just commit to each other. I said to our neighbor, "It feels like we're getting engaged!"
Later that night Robin came across this quote from Charles Swindoll in his book, Parenting: From Surviving to Thriving-

"Can you imagine the transforming effect on your neighborhood if everyone gave greater priority to their families? We would build gates into our fences."

It felt so good, so symbolic, to build that gate. I can honestly say I love my neighbors and my neighborhood. Whoever says that the suburbs don't have life and character hasn't been to mine. Every kid is a character, every family has a story. Our sidewalks are covered in chalk and littered with toys. I come home at night and find neighborhood kids asleep on our couch. I love it.
I pray that building gates, not fences, becomes the metaphor that dominates our neighborhood.