Friday; September 7

What would you do if someone gave you $1000 on the condition that you gave it away to ten people?  You couldn’t give it to anyone who earned it by doing a task for you, it had to be given out to people just because it made them feel good to receive the gift.  I am sure that some of us would be uninterested and others would probably fuss because no one ever gave us $100 out of the goodness of their heart, but I also know that several of us would be happy to play along.  I mean after all, how many times do we have the chance to make someone feel good without it costing us a thing – right?  We’ll, maybe more often than we think.
How free are we with our compliments?  It is easy to be verbose in complaining about things, but how many of us take the opportunity to offer up compliments for no reason at all – not because people deserve them, but just because we want to make their day better.  The great thing about complimenting someone is that it doesn’t cost us a dime and there is little emotional downside to it.  When we offer random compliments, we give someone something they may not deserve, but something they can cherish.
The Wise Man of the Old Testament observed, “A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but perversion in it crushes the spirit.” (Proverbs 15:4).  Are we doing what we can do to help improve the attitudes around us?  Complimenting people is free for us to do and can free us from having to keep score of who is doing what to us. 
Think About It!

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