Becoming more thankful...

I received a great compliment yesterday. After our worship service at church, a man said to me, “Pastor, that is probably the second best sermon you’ve ever delivered.” At first, it struck me as odd. It must of shown on my face. He continued, “I only say that because I know you’ve preached some good ones before, I just wanted you to know that was one of the best.” As I reflected on that comment over night, as it sort of sank in a bit and my all too big ego went down some, I appreciate it even more. In the past, I have heard a similar line. A lady has approached me and said, “That was one of your top five sermons.” I always like that compliment. It goes over better than the ones who say, “That’s the best sermon you’ve ever given.” I hear that and automatically think, “Well, I must have not been very good in the past.”

Truth be told, I am not very good at the whole compliment thing. As Megan can tell you, I rarely compliment anyone, even her. I’m far more able to critique than I am to compliment. It’s definitely a problem. I’ve hidden behind a theory for far too long, which is this: I do not need someone to compliment me. I’m smart enough and big enough on my own and do not need someone else to help build me up. And since I do not need it, I, in turn, do not need to compliment others. In some sick, sadistic way (in my head), it was my attempt at trying to make people stronger. As I think about it now, I can only laugh at how silly this whole line of thinking truly is. In reality, we all need to hear a compliment every now and then. We need to know that we are appreciated and loved. That’s part of living in community with other people, the ebb and flow of life.

As I think about complimenting, in my mind, it comes down to becoming a more thankful person. To compliment someone means that you appreciate something about them and you express it. Being thankful is extremely Biblical. Throughout the Psalms we hear about giving thanks and about praising, another word for compliments. Paul’s writings are very similar. Ironically, as I think about this, it is exactly one month away from the time the rest of the country pauses for the holiday Thanksgiving. So here’s the challenge I am posing to myself. Every day for the next month, I am going to offer up at least one compliment. It may be to someone about something, or it may simply be in prayer to God. Regardless, at least one compliment per day for the next 31 days. I realize that this may appear hokey, but the idea is that if you do something enough, it might actually bring a real change within you. I want to be someone who compliments more. I want to be a more thankful person, for all the ways in which others, as well as God, have blessed me. As a brief side note, I know of one person who compliments people way too frequently. This person comes across as superficial and shallow. Hopefully, I can avoid that pitfall and will not appear as such. I guess it’s a chance that I will have to take. We’ll see how it goes. (A second side note to explain where this is coming from, I just finished reading a very entertaining book called The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. It has inspired me and I recommend it to everyone.)