Neighbour

Whoever blesses his neighbour with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing. Proverbs 27:14 ESV

 Some acquaintances have a neighbour like this. Nice as the neighbour is, he always seems to be over the garden fence whenever my acquaintances happened to pass by. He is friendly and chatty, but sometimes you just want peace and quiet. 

After all, "an Englishman's home is his castle!" If you're dragging yourself off to work early in the morning, the last thing you want is a chat about the weather with your next door neighbour. If you had to exchange such pleasantries every day, it would get so wearing as to seem like a curse! 

Of course there's nothing wrong with being friendly. But it is possible to be over friendly. People don't want their neighbours to be over friendly, they want their personal space. 

Of course, to the grumpy neighbour, it could be said that they need to lighten up. I think that's what Solomon's doing with this observation. He's making light of something that to be honest, would be pretty wearing! 

"Loving God, help us to love our neighbours as ourselves, and not to be over friendly. Give us grace if our neighbours are over friendly! In Jesus' name, amen"

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