My neighborhood is beautiful

It's taken me a few years, but I now realize that my little part of Greensboro is beautiful. That doesn't seem very profound when I look at it on the screen, but I am realizing that I have grown so much in fondness and love for the people around me. I am finding more "joy in the margins", and it is my neighborhood now. The people are beautiful and varied, loved by Jesus in their messy and non-messy lives, and there is plenty of room for hopeful imagination. I know that some people think, "Glenwood? I wouldn't want to live there," just like I thought that when I first moved to Greensboro (me and BCW looked at houses here), and just like I thought that when Diane and I bought our house. Fear certainly twists and distorts, while hope and love give new eyes to see. My neighborhood is beautiful. I am so glad to realize it, and I hope that our friends and partners in ministry here in Greensboro are recognizing it as well. You don't even have to look too hard to see it.