“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

I don’t remember where I heard that nugget of pop psychology, and I don’t fully subscribe to it, but the words stuck with me. I was heading into a season of change and transition: the youngest of my four children had been weaned, the economy had taken a turn that made it difficult for our family to live off my husband’s income, and the thoughts and words that had spent years simmering in my brain had hit boiling pitch. I felt like a pressure cooker banging and whistling on the stove, about to blow pea soup all over the confines of my very domestic life if I didn’t find some release. It was time for me to move into the next phase of the adventure God had for me, but I wasn’t sure how.

That’s when I heard the quote, and decided to become more intentional about surrounding myself with women I admired, women who were moving in the direction God was calling me, and were further down that path than I was. It was the best thing I could have done…

Read the rest at the Redbud Blog.