Took a tumble yesterday...

Yes, it's true.

I fell yesterday.

It hurt.

I felt stupid.

I didn't want anyone to know.

So, why am I telling the cyberworld? Because I want to make a point. I just don't know what it is...I'm kidding!

My point is this: why do we hide it from each other when we hurt? This ties back into our recent topic of being real and not being performance-addicts any longer.

It's not always about doing more for approval. Sometimes it's about hiding for approval. If you know my marriage is suffering, you'll think less of me. If you know my kids are a mess, you'll talk about me. If you know I struggle with a particular sin, I'll become your project. If you know I fell, you'll laugh and make jokes about me.

Any of those sound familiar (the last one is mine!)? We've all been there, done that, bought the t-shirt...opened our hearts and wished we hadn't. But we are told in Galatians to "Bear one another's burdens," (6:2). How can we help bear what others refuse to unload?

I'm the guiltiest party here. I was told by my sister recently not to act like I had it all together, because it drives people away. It does the exact opposite of what I thought.

Openness draws people in. Closed means stay away. If we're going to attract people to Christ, they have to see why we need Him. If we're ever going to carry one another's burdens, we have to share ours.

On the flip side of this, carrying one another's burdens doesn't mean solve them, heal them, fix them, discuss them, make fun of them, or mock them...it means what it says...CARRY THEM. There's nothing that feels worse than sharing a burden and then becoming someone's fix-it project...unless it's having your weight made lite of (no pun intended...!).

So, can we agree to share, to carry, and to work out or responses to one another?? Can we actually fulfill Galatians 6:2? Let's try...Me first...

I fell down yesterday. Hurt both knees and my lower back (which had surgery 1 1/2 years ago). Felt stupid, but now just feel pain. My apologies to my church family for keeping this from you. Forgive me.

And you...........??

Be blessed, and be a blessing!
Deena