grieving neighbor

i had heard a few weeks back about a woman in the military who lost her life in a "hard landing" helicopter crash in iraq, just weeks before she was to return home. i didn't ever hear all of the details to even know that she was from tennessee. it wasn't until this past friday, about a month's time since her crash on feb. 21, 2010, that i learned not only did she live in tennesse, but in my back yard. i had met her and her husband at one of our garage sales a couple of years ago. it is awful to know that someone in my back yard has been grieving a deep loss for a month now and i knew nothing about it.
it is nice to live "out" where you can have privacy and not be in your neighbors business all of the time and them in yours. however, i found how awful to not have known and not to be able to reach out to them in their time of need. my heart is breaking for them. i have spent time reading some articles to learn what i could about her and her family. she was married and had twin step daughters...they all seemed very close. she had a smile that others say was a permanent marking on her face. she was girlie yet tomboy all at the same time. her favorite color pink. she loved to LIVE. such a sweet person, it seems....yet i never knew her. every time that i look out my back window, i see their home, her car and i wonder how they are surviving on the "inside"...inside the home walls and in their hearts. i pray for them and think of them constantly. i pray they find comfort that only the Lord can provide...and a strength that only He can give.
how many people are sitting in your "back yard" grieving or hurting so badly? are we too wrapped up in ourselves to "see" others and recognize what they are going through? are we sensitive to others in their time of need?
all of this has left me wondering if i am loving others well....even those i may not seem to know anything about? i am sure i will never perfect this, but it doesn't mean that i can't try. i have been saved since i was a little girl...Christ has saved my soul! am i sharing what He has done for me with others? am i even attempting to walk through this life the way that He would have me? am i being the feet and hands of Christ. i can do more. i AM to do more. sometimes all i can do is pray for another...and that can be enough. however, how many times have i let an opportunity pass me by to "LOVE" someone in the way they need? shame on me.
i want to open my heart to others and their pain...to love them and pray for them so that i CAN be there in their darkest of times. if i don't, i feel i am missing a great opportunity to share and show WHO Christ IS. i want to do better.
with all that dwells within me...I WANT TO BE BETTER for the "grieving neighbor" who just might have a need that i could fill.