Lately my roommates have been getting on my nerves. There seem to be a lot of do's and don't's around our house. Shortly after we moved in, I learned I couldn't get on the Internet or watch TV in our house. Yesterday I learned that I can't cook unless I wash and put away my dishes right away. Today I learned that I can't have the heat on, even when it's 63 degrees in the house.

I also can't curse, can't drink, and can't have people over for wild sex parties, especially late at night.

Okay, so these examples are a little extreme. (And just to be fair, I'm sure that if I paid for Internet, I could have it.) But together with my bad mood today, it all leads me to feeling like I have two moms now--and that's aside from the one I've already had for 24 years.

Stacy and Jenn are always checking up on me. Where? What? With whom? are common refrains around our house. Another irritating one is "How are you?" or its less-appealing brother, "Are you okay?" "Damn it, I'm fucking fabulous, how the hell are you?" These queries usually come out when I'm being quiet, which is often. My roomies aren't trying to control me--they're just curious, and they're just trying to be nice--but I hate it.

But this is just how I'm feeling today. On the whole, there are benefits to roommates in general, and my roommates in specific. Roommates in general teach you how to compromise, how to live a life that isn't just about you. When I live alone, I get stuck in my routines of how things should be done, and I don't consult anyone else. I become inflexible.

My roommates help me to live a life that, in theory, I want to live. I want to spend my time doing fruitful things, not wasting it on TV or Internet. I don't want to curse (as often as I do). I don't want to drink (or at least, I don't want to be labeled a "drinker".) I like the kitchen clean, too. And of course I want to save money on heat--I'm a grad student, meaning that this is the poorest I've ever been!

There's a word for all of this. Church--a fellowship of believers. In my house, we eat together, pray together, watch movies together, laugh together, and clean up basement flood water together. Sometimes it's claustrophobic, but hey--the early church members shared everything . . . I'm just glad I have my own toothbrush. Stacy and Jenn also keep me accountable to the life I believe in, even if it's not always the life I want in the moment. I think that's how church should be--people that keep you accountable, not because you're afraid of censure and ostracism, but because they know you and love you.

Now, if only I could keep that mentality when I feel like ignoring the pile of dishes for another hour.