The other day I was getting ready in our bathroom and I “felt” the Lord speak to me…
I have always been a person who wanted to do things ‘by myself.’ My family always kidded me, “Oh don’t try to help Kristi open that jar. She wants to do it by herself!” It’s true. I wanted to open the jar, the can, the whatever, by myself. I guess, in this way, I wanted to be independent. I wanted to feel the accomplishment. I wanted to be proud of what I could do alone. I’ve always looked as this personality trait as a plus, something I was kinda proud of, something that meant I would always give everything to try my best. I still think it can be a positive trait; however, as I felt God speak to me the other day, I started to think of it in a different way…
I have a daughter who is the same as I was (am) in this. Sidney wants to do everything ‘by herself.’ She wants to be independent when she wants to be independent, if you know what I mean. I’ve told her many times over the years that she’s just like me. Lately, though, I have seen Sidney not wanting to ask for help, even from the Lord. She seems to think she doesn’t need to ask for help.
Maybe I was thinking about this the other day or maybe God just needed to tell me while I was in one place doing one thing, brushing my teeth. He impressed on my heart that even though I’d always wanted to do things myself, He never created us to be alone. He created us to be in community, to need others…most importantly, to need Him.
WOW! I had never thought of my need to do things ‘by myself’ as a form of pride…until then. I had never thought of my need to not ask for help as something that was keeping me from allowing others the privilege of helping someone…until then. Until then, I had prided myself in the fact that I had always wanted to do things, sometimes over and over again, with no one’s help, mind you! God spoke, though. He told me it’s okay for me, and Sidney, and you, to want to try to do things on our own. It’s okay to even try to do them over and over again, as long as we know that we know that we know we need others, most importantly, our Lord and Savior, to help when we struggle.
We were not made to be alone. In Genesis 2, God even said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
We were not made to be alone.
We need each other.
Let’s help each other.
Let’s let others help us.
