I think we can all agree that life doesn’t always follow our self-designed plans and paths. My friend Molly is no exception. {You might remember her from our 15 Ways to Clean Like a Pro post.} That’s why I love her and I love this story. I find her endlessly interesting because she is in love with her work. I don’t know that I’ll ever tire of talking with people about their passions and how they found them.
Delving into Molly’s head was such a treat. Her journey to her passion and success took turns and twists and included a few seasons of confusion. But she came out on top. Let’s look at her, and learn how to follow the lead she has set up for us.
Molly cleans. You might remember her from a post I put up a bit ago with some awesome cleaning tips. That’s her. She cleans and she loves it.
Recently I was at her apartment with another friend and the night soon turned from pizza and frozen bananas to a lesson on cleaning dried toothpaste off of mirrors and the best way to keep your faucet sparkling. She really loves it. A gleam comes into her eyes, she likes talking cleaning, she likes seeing things go from grimy to glistening. To Molly, it is fun. I think that’s a big part of mastering the art of living: knowing what gets you jazzed and finding a way to keep doing it over and over. After that night, I knew she was doing something very, very right. So I asked her if I could go to work with her one day and pick her brain. Like the awesome friend that she is, she obliged.
I followed her out to the Practically Canadian country side to a very {very} large log cabin style home. It was stunning. Hunting lodge-woodsy decor made me feel like I’d stepped into a mountain resort. Hanging from the living room rafters was a swing. A swing. So cool. I knew coming to work with Molly was a great idea.
Like lots of high school seniors Molly planned to go to college. Because, well, for a lot of us…that’s just what comes next. When she thought about what she should study, she looked to her interests. Deep down, what she loved most was being with people, acting as a listening ear and offering support. She thought about turning that passion, and a natural knack for it into a counseling job. As she entered her freshman year, she selected social work as her major.
As time went on and she dove into courses, she found that she wasn’t happy. No, she was miserable. She told me she’d sit up at night pouring over the university’s course lists, reading detailed descriptions of majors–waiting for one to reach out and grab her. None did.
There had to be a reason nothing was sticking out to me.
She started to think about the possibility of leaving higher education, a notion that was foreign to her. But as she prayed over what to do next, she told me she was stressed all the time–except when she prayed and thought about taking “time off.” Peace came when she thought, prayed and considered leaving school. So she did.
She was discouraged after leaving college. As she moved into the future with no real plan, she felt judged by the people in her world, for abandoning the “correct” next step in life. She took a job cleaning and helping out at a local bed and breakfast. But that came to an abrupt halt in 2011 when, what folks up here refer to as The Flood hit and closed the property.
Molly told me all of this as she polished the stainless steel in one of the most beautiful kitchens I’ve ever sat in. When she was finished with the fridge it looked like we were in a Whirlpool appliance ad. She stepped away to return her rag to its caddy, then paused and added,
I didn’t have a plan for the future. But even though I didn’t have a plan, I could hear God saying, “It’s okay–I have a plan for you.“
It’s one of the most profound things I’ve been told. Especially considering she was only 19 when all this went down.
She took some time away to visit family, then picked up a summer job working on a construction site doing clean up {of all things.} Then one afternoon she was hanging out with two older ladies, friends of her grandmother. Jean and Marlys. Molly and Marlys were helping Jean clean up her house as she prepared to move to an assisted living facility. Molly told me it was during this afternoon that they asked her bluntly what she planned to do. She couldn’t keep drifting from job to job, and they knew construction wasn’t her ideal workplace.
Molly didn’t know.
They asked what she liked and why. They observed that she was naturally talented at cleaning, something she really loved. Then they encouraged her to branch out on her own, to make a job for herself. That same afternoon Marlys placed Molly’s first ad online {she’s pretty tech-savvy.} Soon after, Molly was in business and it’s been that way ever since.
Molly told me that in a lot of ways cleaning allows her to do all the things she enjoys most. Best of all, her job has allowed her to become that listening ear and shoulder-to-cry-on she always longed to be. Coming in to a home requires a certain level of trust. Once in, she finds that many people are put at ease and become comfortable talking to her about hard topics, like life, loss and God.
Cleaning homes allows her to connect with people on an intimate level. “I come to the door and see women who normally always put together wearing no makeup and pajama pants.” She told me it’s an honor to think that people are that comfortable with her. She loves that cleaning genuinely helps people, and points out that when you feel good and confident about your home, other things will follow.
She admitted to me that at first she saw her new undertaking as “just cleaning.” It didn’t take long to realize that it was much more than that. God has used her as a strong witness to all of her clients. Amazingly, she told me that nearly every single one of her clients has spoken with her at one time or other about spiritual needs, topics or curiosities. Molly says that if she wasn’t in the home, cleaning, those opportunities would never have arisen.
She takes pride in leaving the home sparkling and fresh, but is most fulfilled when she can offer comfort to the people living there. As she talked about her clients that she cares so deeply for, I realized that she is so much more than just a “cleaner” to the many people who invite her into their homes. And to her, they are much more than simply “clients.” They are friends, people she cherishes.
Molly is a prime example of how when we trust God, He will perfectly put our skills to effective use that will bring us joy and serve Him well.
Recently Molly has given her expanding business an official name: Victory Cleaning. I find this very appropriate, because she brings victory into the home in so many ways: victory over grime, stress, life, and best of all..the victory offered to all of us through Christ.
xo
Amy
PS–Keep your eyes out for more from Molly. I know this graphic designer who is currently working on creating a logo for her and will soon be assisting in a business page set up.
