Give It Away

Give It Away · 12 October 2019

We should all give something away every single day.

I think we should all give something away every single day. No. I am not talking about material possessions, even though that might be good too. Getting rid of clutter is always a good thing to do. (Says the man with too much clutter.) But like I said, I am not talking about giving away material possessions. I am talking about something we can all give away each and every day. And it does not cost anything.

I am sure there are skeptics out there, but I know of at least one thing that we can all give away each day. And you do not even need to get anything back in order to give the same thing away the next day. We can all give a compliment to somebody. Every single day.

I know. I know. It sounds corny. It sounds Pollyannaish. And it is. But the truth of the matter is that a compliment does not cost anything, and it means so much to the person receiving it. Besides, it is truly more blessed to give than to receive. (Acts 20:35) Even if the other person gives a “Bah humbug,” in return.

I have been thinking about the act of giving compliments because the people on our staff are passing around a compliments book at our school. We are giving compliments to our co-workers. Just because. Yes, it is nice to read what others think of you. But it is so much more fun to give compliments to others. And much less embarrassing for those of us who do not really like to get compliments. (Okay. Everybody likes to get compliments. Even if it is embarrassing to get them.)

Of course, you must be sincere when giving a compliment. And there might be a cost associated with that sincerity. After all, there are probably people who you find it hard to compliment. (I do.) But if you look. If you really look, you can find something to compliment in anybody. And who knows, you might even find more to compliment when you look closely. You might go from a cursory glance to find a shallow compliment to looking deeper to find something truly amazing about a person. And it is always a bonus to find out anything about somebody. Especially, something unexpected and wonderful.

Besides finding out wonderful and amazing things about others, giving out genuine compliments does something for the giver. Not that the giver needs anything in return, but giving compliments makes the giver of compliments truly appreciative of others. Which makes that person feel good inside.

It truly is more blessed to give than to receive. And the giving of compliments can certainly be a blessed thing. Which is why I say that we all should give something away every day. And that something should be a sincere compliment.

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