Post #5: Just A Thought

I can practically hear the sound of Lou’s eyes rolling whenever I start out a conversation with this:

“I just read a compelling article on a cleaning blog in my newsfeed…”

The words “compelling” and “cleaning blog” somehow don’t go together for my husband. But for me, a good article about how to get my dishes cleaner in the dishwasher was pretty transformational. For all these years, I’ve scrubbed my dishes and thoroughly rinsed them before I put them in the dishwasher. In my mind, that just makes them even cleaner after the cycle is complete. But it turns out, not rinsing your dishes is way better because almost all brands of dishwasher detergents are designed to work best if they can cling to food, oil, and grease particles on the dishes.

The article went on to give a very detailed explanation of how the surfactants in the detergents work during the wash cycle, and I found myself riveted by this idea that my dishes could actually be cleaner if I cleaned them less. 

Who knew?

I was thinking about that article last night when I loaded a few dishes into the dishwasher before bed. I had just gotten home from presenting my first Fresh Start Workshop to a group of incredibly beautiful ladies, and I will still savoring the feeling of being useful to people again with my passion for storytelling.

Even though I didn’t feel like I did my best — I sort of wandered off my notes a few times, and I realized after the fact that I skipped one whole section that I really wanted to share with this group! Basically, what it comes down to is that I wasn’t very polished, and I really wanted to nail it for this audience of women. But as I resisted the urge to wash out this greasy bowl Lou used to serve some asparagus before I put it in the dishwasher, something kind of awesome hit me:

I think the reason that my session felt so good and so useful is that the messy and ugly particles of my real life gave others a place to cling onto my honesty, not my attempted perfection.

For such a long time now, I’ve been certain that I’m not ready to share and encourage others because I’m not a shining example of anything anymore! I’m still in process. But it turns out that what inspires people more isn’t how much you’ve already figured out. It’s how you’re moving forward with your faith, your courage, and your willingness to live your life out loud and in the open.

Anyway…

I’ll think I will always remember this first workshop session not because of what I taught others, but because of what the women in this group taught me about the value of my own vulnerabilities.