Recently I attended a ladies' small group about encouragement.  Since I believe that to be one of my gifts and strengths, it definitely caught my attention.

For our closing session the other day, our leader Miss Kris opened her home up to us just like she had done for the five or so previous sessions.  We all brought food to share and ate dinner together while chatting and laughing and catching up.

Miss Kris said we all had to take a peek in each room of her house but wouldn't tell us why.  So we each dutifully did as we were told and waited to find out why.

After making sure we had all done our task, Miss Kris asked us to be brutally honest while we answered a few questions.

"Did any of you notice that I was dressed in an old, stained t-shirt and hadn't done my hair or put on any makeup?  Did it bother you?"

I had noticed the shirt but didn't think anything of it.

"Did any of you notice that I had dirty dishes in the sink?"

"Did anyone notice that my craft projects were all over the house?"

"Did you notice my bed wasn't made?"

"Did you notice the piles of laundry?  Was anybody bothered by that?"

"Did anybody notice that the bathroom mirrors were dirty?"

"Did any of you notice that my rugs were crooked and leaves had been tracked inside?"

"Did anybody notice my barking dog and all his toys throughout the house?"

Well, we noticed the barking.  That dog is a hard one to miss.

But beyond that we didn't notice or care about those things.  Comments were made that the house felt cozy.  It felt like Miss Kris.  We were just grateful that she had shared it with us.

My eyes teared up as Kris went through her list of questions.
The excuses that we use for not opening up our home.
The things we think others will notice and think less of us because of them.

Why is it we don't care about those things in others but we think others will look down on us if something isn't how we think it should be?  Why do we demand perfection from ourselves when we don't expect it from others?  Why do we show grace to others but not give grace to ourselves?

No one but myself is holding me to a standard of "Pinterest perfection".

In order to be an encouragement to others, you need to enter into relationship.
And in order to enter into relationship, you need to be comfortable enough to be you and to let others see who you really are.

Are you willing to allow others into your home?  Into your mess?  Into the real you?

I was so grateful for her real life example and thought you would be as well.