Daniel's Love For Neighbor

Tonight, after lights-out, Ian requested "a Bible story" - generally a broad category in his usage, which can be any account of a spiritual nature, so I told him and Daniel about last night's Gospel reading, in which Christ explains that all other commandments are founded on the two primary commandments of loving God with all your heart, soul and mind, and loving your neighbor as yourself, or, as I paraphrased for the youthful audience, "loving your neighbor as much as you love yourself."

At that point, Daniel made an unexpected assertion:

"I actually love my neighbor a lot more than myself..."

Before I had time to process anything, I think I was somewhere between great concern that perhaps Daniel finds very little that's lovable in himself, and elation that apparently Daniel is simply overcome with love for humanity.

But it turned out that there was a third possibility, specifically that Daniel's understanding of who is "neighbor" is was literal and singular. This much-loved neighbor turned out to be one Alec, the seven-year-old boy who moved in across the street with his family about a month ago. I knew that Daniel was fond of him, but I hadn't expected such a deep attachment.

***

When I was a few years older than Daniel is now, I noticed in the prayer book a confessional prayer that mentioned, repentantly, "if I have troubled my brother or quarreled with him," and I instantly recognized a personal vice. But then I asked my mother how this prayer would apply to people who didn't actually have a brother [maybe only-children or people with only sisters...]. She explained that your brother is someone nearby, and needn't be a male sibling, but that wouldn't have occurred to me, at that age, on my own.

(April 10, 2012)