Article July 21, 2025 Issue

Love our neighbor? But what about when . . .

Debby Norden Miller

Originally appeared online - July 3, 2025.

The concept of loving our neighbor seems so simple but sometimes doesn’t feel that way.

A few months ago, I was in our arena working a horse in preparation for an important upcoming lesson. Just then, our neighbor came roaring down the road on what sounded like the loudest ATV (All-Terrain Vehicle) imaginable. Doing this once would have been bad enough, but he drove only about half a mile before turning around and coming back, and he repeated this cycle over and over. My horse was distracted and dismayed. At first, I felt the same way, but then Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan (see Luke 10:25–37) came to mind.

It was time to put into practice the powerful lessons from Jesus’ teachings on loving our neighbor.