The Random Compliment a Day Challenge

   Let’s get real about something here: do you ever feel like you are being talked about? My family enjoys saying: “were your ears burning?” That means they were talking about me even though I wasn’t there. Another thing that happens is you are actually in the room with other people and you just get the feeling that people are talking about you.

   It is like this clip from Mulan (Here watch 1:12-1:23). Okay, so maybe it isn’t that obvious but you get my point. We are talked about every day even if we do not realize it. Sometimes people are saying negative things about us, like in this clip (and, yes, I know the clip was a little obvious because Yao was talking about Mulan). But, we should not care about that because it only matters what God thinks about us (Caring and Yet Not Caring).

   However, there is that occasion where people are saying something nice about you. I’ve realized something though. Many times people say nice things behind our backs and we may not know what they actually said.

   For example: one day I was talking with the soccer girls that I coach. One of the other coaches walked by, we will call him Dude. One of the girls said “I love Dude. He makes soccer fun and he is so funny.” I said, “I see how I rate. Now he is your favorite but you also said you like G (another coach).” She said, “well Dude cannot hear me. You are right here.” I looked at her with confusion, “why does that matter?” She chimed back, “I normally only talk about people when they are not around me.” At this point I was so confused I laughed and went over to talk with the other coaches.

   That conversation made me realize that we do not tell others what they think about them nearly enough. Now, I’m not saying that we should go tell people we don’t like them. What I am saying is that we are not really following the Bible and showing love/encouragement to each other when we do that. The Bible tells us that we need to build one another up (1 Thessalonians 5:11). We need to show love to others in the way that best fits them (See Love is Kind of a Funny Word blog)

   I walk though my day doing the best I can to reflect God’s glory. I am working on not caring about what others think about me, but it is still important for us to lift one another up. I’m not just saying we should lift one another up in bad times; we also need to do it in the good times. Admit it: you would love to get a random compliment from someone when you were not expecting it. And you will also have completed a random act of kindness for the day. I know when I get a compliment it pushes me to do even better. It is just something simple we can do to make the world a better place.

   So, will you choose to tell others how you feel about them? Will you give others random compliments? Will you encourage others like we are called to do?

   Hebrews 10:23-25, Proverbs 27:17, Proverbs 12:25