Being a Good Neighbor

Liberti, the church I have been going to recently (and will most likely be joining as member soon), is doing a in depth look in to the Gospel of Luke this fall. They're calling it 'Finding Your Self in His Story'. They even made up these cool little devotionals that walk through Luke and concentrate on how we pray. This past Sunday we looked at the parable of the seeds and our own hearts in the process. I've realized something, I'm a lot closer to the seed with the weeds choking it then the seed in the good soil. I don't have a hard heart, or a shallow heart, I have a busy heart. 

From Shirt.Woot.com

I love theatre, I love writing, I love art, my family, my friends, and a lot of things. The problem is that all of these things are vying for number one on my priorities. And because of that I struggle to be productive and proactive in anything and everything. Yes I'm making excuses for my amazing ability to be a procrastinator in all things. But really the issue is getting rid of the things that really stand in the way, and changing my way of thinking.

Now what does that all have to do with the title of this post, 'Being a Good Neighbor'?

Last night my down stairs neighbors decided to start 'talking' very loudly at about 1am. Of course I could hear almost all of the 'converstation' happening downstairs, which is the amazingly annoying thing about living in row houses. What I originally thought was an argument, was actually a young women telling her boyfriend that she is going to have his kid. (He was not happy with this at all). Now I don't know much about my neighbors down stairs, there are a couple of women with two very cute little girls and other people who are always going in and out.

What surprised/annoyed me was that at 1am in the morning, three or four adults were practically yelling at each other, while one of the kids was screaming in the back room. Now I like to think of myself as a rather laid back person, but being woken up at 1am when I have to work the next day, and being kept up for another hour and a half, by random loud outburst, which would set the kids crying again, changes a person. After shooting off several 'choice' words in the dark of my bedroom while I lay awake on my bed, listening to the ridiculous 'coversation' I realized I had no idea how to handle the situation.

WWJD? Cliche I know, but I mean it. How in the world is a Christian suppose to handle that situation? Should I just stomp on the floor and swear till I can get back to sleep, or is there a better way? Part of me wanted to just open my door, and yell down the staircase from them to shut up, but I doubt that would actually have helped. And as unpolitically correct as this might sound, last night made me feel very white, very privileged and very out of my comfort zone. I guess that I have to work on being a better neighbor and more comfortable with the people on me street.

Any suggestions on how to deal with loud neighbors? Or even how to better organize my life so I get things done? How to not be a procrastinator?