Fences & Neighbors

In 1995, my wife and I purchased a house in town, a couple blocks from the city park.
It was a small cinder block house on a concrete slab. We learned a great deal about home ownership from the 15 years we lived in that interesting little home.

We learned very early on that we could pour an endless amount of money into projects around the house if we were not careful. So we agreed to tackle a couple small adventures and 1 major remodel every year. This plan would keep us moving forward and out of debt. At least that was the plan.

It is also noteworthy to mention that somewhere in the first week we lived there, my wife discovered that I have no carpentry skills of any kind. In fact, she quickly came to the conclusion that if she needed anything serious done, then it required that we save our money and hire a contractor. This also saved us money on hospital bills.

One day I had the bright idea that we should put up a privacy fence around the small back yard. It was a reasonable plan with a reasonable price-tag.

In an act of courtesy to both neighbors, I mentioned to them my master plan and explained that I was going to purchase all the lumber and do all the work.
Silly me, I expected them to appreciate my wonderful plan.

My neighbor to the south, a kind elderly gentleman, mentioned that our property line was actually 10 feet onto his property. He suggested that I determine where the actual property line is before building my privacy fence.

The city engineer came out and took some measurements and determined that the south side of my house was indeed built right on the property line. So my new fence would be so tight up against the house that I couldn't push a lawn mower between them.

And since I payed taxes on property 50 feet wide, I needed to push my property line to the north 10 feet onto my other neighbor.

Yea.... he was less than pleased.

So I took a measuring tape out and showed that he too paid taxes on a 50 foot wide piece of property and his back yard was a full 60 feet.

And with his help, we measured my back yard, and with the adjusted fence line, I had a back yard that was 40 feet across. Silly me, I expected him to understand my problem.

My neighbor to the north made it clear that this was not his problem and the fence was not going to be moved the 10 feet onto his property unless I paid to have a $2,000 dollar survey.

It is surprising how quickly things can get stupid, even when they are being done with the best intentions.

There are layers of spiritual take-aways that we could glean from my misfortune.

So our spiritual take-away is:
"Do right. Decide to act in a way
that pleases God
in your attitudes, actions, and speech."

Don’t repay evil for evil.
Don’t retaliate with insults
when people insult you.
Instead, pay them back with a blessing.
That is what God has called you to do,
and he will bless you for it.
1 Peter 3:9

Never pay back evil with more evil.
Do things in such a way
that everyone can see you are honorable.
Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.
Romans 12:17