Leaders do the dishes:

I have mentioned this before, but I am in the process of finishing my sixth summer working at a nonprofit called, “The Bridge of Storm Lake.”  I talk very highly of this organization, and it has definitely changed a lot of my perspectives.  This summer, as well as last summer,  I was more of a staff member, and I was in charge of the summer team.  Therefore, I gave those on the summer team the jobs that they are supposed to be completing.  Because of the work we do and once we have fed children food, there often is a large number of dishes that need to be done. Because I am in charge, it can become easier and easier to get the members on my team to be in charge of the dishes as opposed to doing them myself.  

However, one weekend before I left, I noticed that there were some dishes in the sink, and there were already flies that were starting to pop up because of the food still lingering on them.  I knew that if I left the dishes out for longer, there would be more and more flies, and it would get grosser and grosser, so even though I wanted to just leave and get home, I knew that I needed to do those dishes.  I put on my headphones and picked a good playlist, and I made sure that those really gross dishes were done.  I even made sure that I did a little bit of sweeping and that the trash was closed, so the flies wouldn’t completely invade.  I knew that the reason was because I genuinely love this organization, and I want to make sure that it is taken care of.  However, I was a bit annoyed that I couldn’t be headed home yet, and I was upset that the team members hadn’t done the dishes. Then I was humbled with the thought that I haven’t done the dishes in a long time.  I realized that I have been avoiding the dishes because I can make the other members do it, and therefore it was about my time to finish them.    

Leaders should not be bossy in the sense that they just tell others what to do.  They should also show others what to do by setting an example.  If you really want to be a leader, then you need to be willing to set an example for your followers to follow through not just your words, but, rather, your actions.  For example, Jesus was and is a leader.  He has many followers to this day.  At the time of his living, though, he had 12 close followers called the disciples.  With those disciples, Jesus was great at setting examples for how he wanted them to act. He was an amazing man (God) who was doing big miracles that everyone wanted to see for themselves, and he would often have the disciples take part in those miracles.  For example, when he was feeding the 5000 with five loaves of bread and two fish, he made sure that the disciples had a job of handing out the food.  They were then seen as members of the miracle, and therefore they were also getting admired and loved throughout the community.  

One of the greatest examples, though, of Jesus was when he taught his followers how to serve.  On the night of the last supper, he washed the disciples’ feet which is a huge act of service, especially back in that day.  Because the disciples were always wearing sandals and all they did was walk on dusty roads, their feet were often very dirty.  Nobody wanted to wash their own feet, let alone someone else’s, so when Jesus started washing the disciples feet, they were shocked and a bit upset that Jesus felt he needed to do this.  Jesus never stopped cleaning their feet though, and taught them a very important lesson through his response.  “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.”  (John 13:14-16).  Jesus taught his disciples how to be a leader within the community and achieve many miracles through faith, but then he also taught them that to be a leader that many will respect is through showing love to others through service and care.  

The point is that you are never too big of a person to do the dishes.  You are never too big of a person to take out the trash or do the laundry.  This is especially when you are at an organization or a place of work, and you may be a person that is higher up.  Even when, yes, you have the ability to tell someone else what to do, you should still find those moments to do the jobs that people just don’t want to do because followers will want to follow a leader that is willing to do those jobs. With that, willing to be a humble servant, even through being a person who is the leader, will come with a lot of respect from the followers and then, hopefully, they will follow your example.