Our alleyway is a lively stretch of street ripe with neighbor
interaction. We run into many bustling to and from their cars. It’s not
foreign to hear our neighbors, who call the streets of Golden Hill
their home, rolling their grocery cart past our window or rummaging
through our garbage. On occasion, a drug deal will go down and a fresh
piece of graffiti will set up shop next to us. Daily, we will see one
of our neighbors doing his faithful trash clean up of our immediate
block.
So what about us? Well, we couldn’t allow everyone to have their fun
without us getting in on the action. Sooo…with our collective
finances, cheerful hearts and grubby work clothes; we launched our
alley garden on A street. What we have found is that this little
corridor of concrete has unearthed itself as prime real estate for
relationships to begin and it is chalk full of unknown neighbors
becoming more. Becoming friends.
Today, something “other” is sprouting besides our leafy greens and
summer vegetables. The Kingdom of God is coming in Golden Hill in
simple, powerful moments. It comes when an elderly neighbor who
struggles with mental illness plants flowers in our backyard as a
source of life. Or when a fresh handful of greens is handed to a
neighbor who is hungry. Or to another neighbor who feels safe enough to
come over and plant his own veggies with us.
Gardening for us has become more than caring for the earth and its
field of goodies for personal and collective consumption. We see it as
partnering in the beauty, nourishment, and bounty of all God’s dreams
for this place. We see it as another way of planting the roots of our
feet deep into the soil of Golden Hill. We see it as actually
stewarding the space God has given to us so that we can love our
neighbors and neighborhood well.
This little plot of land is creating place for us to be among the
people. When I look at the life of Jesus, he intentionally chose to
dwell, to “pitch his tent”, to be among. And he actually asks us to do
the same. So we pray that we would have eyes to see the faces of all
our neighbors, those visible and hidden, and may we hear their voices.
May “back alley gardens” be one way that places can become something
home, something good for those who dwell around us.
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