My brother Jason and I decided we should start a blog and hopefully engage with others in an exchange of life experiences, highs/lows and everything in between. My brother opened his first post with several compliments about me and of course my initial instinct was to make light of those compliments or point out a short-coming of mine. Why do we have such trouble accepting compliments? Think about it, someone compliments your shirt/top and each of us is likely to say something like “It was only $15, found it on sale.” Or someone might say “you’re funny”, and we respond with “I’m a dork.” This world could stand to have a massive amount of more of us complimenting each other and building one and other up, but when we dismiss someone’s compliment then are we making it less likely for him/her to do something of that nature again? So I’m going to make a conscious effort to accept compliments when they arrive. Here it goes, Jason, thank you for the kind words. (i survived it.)
Please don’t be alarmed, we will have our fair share of strong disagreements throughout the life of this blog but I am truly blessed to have a brother that is also my best friend. Jay absolutely “get’s it.” Jay is one of those rare people that will open his front door to anyone and within minutes he can disarm the strongest of fronts. You get around Jay and you immediately begin to relax. Jay has a true heart for Christ, is a loving and affectionate husband that never falls into the trap of making inappropriate “guy” jokes about his wife for a cheap laugh. He honors his wife each and every day and I respect that greatly. Jay is also a tremendously committed father of two boys that just happen to own my heart as well.
It is borderline creepy how similar Jason and I’s interests are. We both enjoy seeking the Lord, spending time in the woods, being around family, OU sports, quoting random movie scenes and the occasional 1999 Real World Episodes, and tuning into most every mma fight. I feel ridiculously blessed to have 5 friends I trust with the darkest parts of me and vice versa. I have zero clue where this blog will take us but I sincerely pray that God uses it to touch a single heart as I am certain Jay and I will be discussing several spiritual topics along with a nice blend of senseless nonsense. Jay and I are far from perfect and still have much to learn about Christ but we will attempt to be transparent and authentic.
And in case you haven’t picked up on it, I have a horrible habit of writing in an Apostle Paul type manner, in that I string 3 sentences into 1.
I am challenging everyone reading this to do 2 things this week.
1. Look for someone that appears to need a compliment and deliver it with zero expectations
2. If you receive a compliment, accept it without a negative deflector
Lastly I will leave you with this. If you started with 1 cent on October 1st, and doubled it on October 2nd, and doubled that amount on October 3rd, and so on and so forth. At the end of the month, how much money do you think you would have? Scroll down below for answer………………
$ 10,737,418.24
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2 comments:
I think your challenge is a great one. I find myself deflecting compliments when I get them because somehow, I don't feel like I deserve them or that by accepting them I'll appear cocky or something. As part of an exercise that stemmed from a group blog I participate in, I've been working on a similar challenge in that I'm trying to be more vocal with my gratitude. Not only thanking God for what is going on in an attempt to open up more dialogue between the two of us, but also in thanking people around me so that they know when they are appreciated. I'll work on the receiving end as well as part of your challenge.
Just now checking in again and it's nice to see this from your perspective too. And by the way, you are both fantastic people (just say thank you!) and I'm so glad God brought you into our lives.
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