4 Ways to Better Reach Neighbors with Your Ripple

There are days when our world feels small—when the appointments and to-do’s and ordinary things consume us, and we anticipate that moment when we can finally rest ourselves. There are days when everyday feels largely the same and we start to feel swallowed by defeat. There are days we wonder if we are making a difference, if the little decisions matter beyond the moment, if we are nurturing the right things.

Today I want you to know that you are living in a story that is larger than what you can see. The things that you do, the choices that you make, the way that you love and show grace and lead by example—they leave an imprint. Your life has a ripple effect.

You may not see each ripple as it moves silently beyond you, but others do. God, too—He sees eternal significant in the moments you chalk up as insignificant.

He sees the way you reload the dishwasher for the upteenth time, sees how you demonstrate to your littles diligence and practical love.

He sees when you choose your words with intention though you’re frazzled or under-slept or upset.

He sees the choices you make to stand up for what is right, to go against the grain even when it costs you, to not participate in the gossip, to listen instead of assume, to show kindness when you are bone-weary.

Today you might feel ill-prepared to live on mission for God. You might feel imperfectly ready to be a light in your neighborhood. You might even doubt your influence within your own home.

But God calls imperfectly ready people. He calls the humble. The ones foolish in the eyes of the world. The ones who expect to be passed over.

If you feel less-than-ready to live on mission right where you live, may you find solace in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31:

Brothers and sisters, consider who you were when God called you to salvation. Not many of you were wise scholars by human standards, nor were many of you in positions of power. Not many of you were considered the elite when you answered God’s call.

But God chose those whom the world considers foolish to shame those who think they are wise, and God chose the puny and powerless to shame the high and mighty.

He chose the lowly, the laughable in the world’s eyes—nobodies—so that he would shame the somebodies. For he chose what is regarded as insignificant in order to supersede what is regarded as prominent,so that there would be no place for prideful boasting in God’s presence.

For it is not from man that we draw our life but from God as we are being joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. And now he is our God-given wisdom, our virtue, our holiness, and our redemption.And this fulfills what is written:

If anyone boasts, let him only boast

in all that the Lord has done!

God is not looking for those who feel ready, but those who are willing. Not those who think they have it all together, but those who will give Him all the pieces of their lives and allow Him to make something beautiful of broken pieces. Not the wise, well-versed, and educated, but the humble.

To bolster the impact of the ripple-effect of our lives, we don’t elevate ourselves, nor dismiss that God can use even us, but we do lean into the One who supplies all, supersedes our lack, and explodes our impact.

As we invite God to have His way inside us, the work He is doing will naturally ripple out beyond us. Yet to ensure the ripples reach others, we can put into place four pillars that will hold wide open the door for the ripples to keep expanding. These tenants, which we will unpack in order, are as follows: proximity, visibility, availability, and openness.

Proximity

Let’s look first at proximity. Proximity equates to nearness—the shortness of the space in between. The closer our proximity to others, the easier it is to do life together throughout the week. And when we do life together, we rub off on each other. Because proximity is already a given in neighborhoods, the ripple effect has exponential potential in neighborhoods.

Visibility

Proximity, however, does not guarantee that we actually know our neighbors. This takes intention and time. To capitalize on the gift of being proximate to our neighbors, let’s choose to be also visible so we can open the door for friendships to form.

Let’s move from our security-fence-lined back yards to our front yards so our neighbors can see us more often. Let’s linger when we grab our mail, read our books outside when we can, keep our garage doors up until after we have unloaded our groceries.

Let’s acknowledge neighbors walking past with a smile and nod, teach our kids to raise a hand in hello to cars driving past. Let’s walk a few steps out of our comfort zone to say hi or ask how a project is going or offer a tool or a helping hand.

As you lean into missional living in your neighborhood, you will find that baby steps towards being more visible to your neighbors will pay off in dividends. Give yourself the grace to start small, to inch your way towards visibility. When your neighbors can see you, it’s far easier for them to get to know you, and it is through relationships that the things God is stirring inside us can ripple out beyond us.

Availability

Let’s take our intentional visibility to the next level by choosing to also be available to our neighbors. We can be visible without being present and accessible. Visibility, unless it is coupled with availability, does not lead to friendships and community.

Choosing to be available is first a posture of our hearts that then moves us to cultivate relationships. When we embrace availability, even through baby steps that might feel underwhelming, we choose the direction we are heading. And friends, the direction is always, always more important than the pace.

If, like me, you struggle with perfectionism, remind yourself often that real is far more relatable than perfect. Let the realness of your actual life be visible. Practice being interruptible. Let your neighbors hear in your voice when you say hello that you are truly glad to see them. Offer to help a neighbor you notice could use a hand.

As you move, slowly but sincerely, towards being more available to your neighbors, you will find more opportunities arise for the life you are living in connection to Christ to ripple out beyond you.

Openness

The heart posture of openness builds upon proximity, visibility, availability, giving further momentum to each ripple. Openness is willingly giving access. It’s not holding those in our neighborhood we are getting to know at arm’s distance. It’s being real. Honest. Wholly showing up.

It’s availability with soft humility. It’s caring more for others than protecting our own image. It’s being vulnerable because this is the most powerful way to let what God is cultivating inside us ripple again, and again, and again.

When we choose to be open to God, we willingly give Him the go-ahead to weed, plant, and water. This practice helps us then be brave enough to show to others that we, too, are works-in-progress, ever in need of His grace.

Let it ripple

Today, my friend, I hope you take to heart that the life you are living matters. You are already impacting others around you just by being you and letting God be God inside you. As you take baby steps towards greater visibility, availability, and openness, may they increase the potency of your proximity to your neighbors.

Shall we pray?

Oh Jesus, thank you that missional living is not about creating waves, but inviting You to be in what ripples out beyond us. As we posture our hearts as open to you, would you lead us forward into visibility, availability, and openness with our neighbors? In Your precious and holy name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.

P.S. Did you know The Uncommon Normal is also a podcast? Tune in on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, or Spotify.

Change your actual life in less than 5 minutes per day!

You can change your actual life in less than 5 minutes a day because baby steps truly can change the trajectory of your life. If you want 2021 to be the year you actually start living on mission in your neighborhood, this little book (available as a paperback and on Kindle) will help you get there. Each of the 30-day devotions takes but a few minutes to read, but they will lead to lasting life change.

If you’d like to check out Part 1 of the devotional FREE and also gain access to the rest of the missional living resources I’ve created for you in the new For You library, let me know here where to send the unlock code!