A lot of my struggles as a wife and mother come from comparing myself to others.  But sweet freedom comes when I am real with another woman about struggles and sins.  My assumptions get blown wide open and true community can happen.  Why do we hide from each other?  I do it.  I admit to avoiding people I know in public sometimes.  Why?  Is it selfishness?  Yes.  Is it lovelessness?  Yes.  I just want to be alone, but I don’t express it in the surly, annoyed way that has suddenly shown up in my 10 year old daughter.

Community.  Relationship.  This is something God is teaching me.  You cannot grow in the fruit of the Spirit as a hermit.  Most of these fruits are cultivated in the soil of relationships and community.  Love, patience, kindness, gentleness, etc.  And extending the metaphor, we cannot enjoy the fruit unless we are actively working out this salvation and allowing the vinedresser to prune, weed and fertilize the soil of our hearts.  I can tell you this:  when I have obeyed and put myself out there in relationships I’ve never regretted it.

Let’s be real ladies!!  Don’t believe the lie that everyone else has it all together.  It is a scurrilous lie!  Confess your weaknesses to one another and extend grace to each other.  We have so much to learn from one another.  We are the body of Christ, not individuals without any connection.