“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Matthew 22:39 (KJV)
There is a face on the street the household would rather not see. It is not always a serious reason — sometimes it is just an awkward one, an old misunderstanding, a small pride that never got confessed.
Christ's command names them, without softening it, as thy neighbour. And He asks us not merely to tolerate them but to love them — as ourselves. The mercy that we would extend to our own tired face in the mirror at 7am is the mercy we are asked to extend to them at 7pm on the sidewalk.
Perhaps the household begins with something very small this week — a nod, a real one; a hello, said properly; a doorbell rung once, kindly, to say a plain thing that has been unsaid too long. This is a big Christian thing. The Lord does not ask for a big gesture. He asks for a beginning.