Admit it. You’re a mess. We all are.

A pastor named Andy Stanley is currently doing a series about the messes in our lives. There’s a lot that goes behind his messages, but there’s one thing that he said one Sunday that resonated with me:

“I know a mess when I see one, because I am one.”

More often than not, especially (unfortunately) at a Christian university, I see and hear a lot of judgement. Even outside of school, when I’m with friends or family, there’s always a lot of gossip like: “Did you hear she’s having another baby?" “Did you see that he got another girl pregnant,” and “She’s really in debt.”

Most of the time, we focus on the problems of others more than we focus on our own problems. Maybe it’s easier to deal with their problems. Maybe we don’t want to face our own. Whatever the reason, it’s important to recognize our struggles too. Like the old saying goes, make sure your hands are clean before you start pointing fingers.

Admit the problems you have in your life. Your finances might be way out of whack. Maybe you have health issues, relationship problems, bad communication with your parents, your kids. It’s difficult to admit these things, but it will better yourself in the long run.

Personally, I never say no. I stretch myself too thin and find myself in situations where I am responsible for too many things at once. Inevitably, there are times where I can’t handle all of the tasks that I took on and I’m left in a giant hole — one that I dug myself into. Too often I’m in this hole and I’ll look out and think, “Well, at least my life isn’t as messy as hers.”

That is not the way to deal with things.

In his sermon, Andy Stanley encouraged the congregation to, whenever you see someone struggling or in a sticky situation, tell yourself, “I know a mess when I see one, because I am one.” No one is perfect, and no one needs to be. We need to take control of the situation that we, more often than not, got ourselves into. Only then will we start to see changes in our lives (and if other people adhere to the same technique, you’ll see changes in their lives too).

"Hannah Montana" also instilled this into us when we were younger. Nobody’s perfect. Don’t dwell on someone else’s problems and not your own. Take responsibility for the mess that you’ve gotten yourself into.