Do you ever notice something hanging from someone’s nose then think you have something hanging from your own nose? Or perhaps someone takes off his or her sunglasses and ends up with an odd piece of hair sticking out, and you suddenly feel as if you have a stray section of hair to put back in place? It’s sort of like feeling itchy when hearing about lice.

How far do we consider other people’s struggles or quirks and reflect them back to ourselves, not to be judgmental or harsh with ourselves but to improve? Instead, we often have a chip on our shoulder. We don’t want to admit our own fault.  It’s easier to see the fault in others.

We need more humility. We don’t need to compare ourselves to demean ourselves but we also don’t need to compare ourselves in order to build ourselves up. You know how it sounds, “I know I have problems, but at least I’m not like her.”

We get defensive about comparisons at times. We declare we won’t compare ourselves with others because we’re living our own lives, and there is truth in it. We shouldn’t compare in an effort to measure up to someone else. But comparisons aren’t all bad. We can learn lessons from each other. We can encourage one another.

That’s part of doing life together. We truth check alongside each other and grow because of it.