My friend Beth Vogt had a great blog post this week on compliments. She starts with a great quote from Mark Twain that I have stolen and redesigned here.
Who doesn’t love a good compliment?
I sometimes have a hard time receiving compliments because I see all the areas where I fall short. But I’ve started asking people to tell me how they see me, because I’ve learned just how flawed my few of myself can be.
One thing I’ve come to realize is that our words can prophesy life into people. I’ve seen that in my life and in others after I’ve said something.
About a year ago I read something in a book that resonated. Prophecy is really just speaking truth the way God sees it. When I read that definition the first time it really struck me. I want to prophesy life into people. I want them to walk away feeling more who God called them to be. Often that’s just seeing them with His eyes — and sincere compliments are a great tool for that.
Words have immense power. I love this short clip with TobyMac that explains how he got the idea for his song Speak Life (I’m challenged again each time I hear it to watch what I say). So how do you speak life to those around you? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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Loved Beth’s post last week and love your post today, Cara. Sooo…I dated this guy once who was amazing at affirming and encouraging the people around him. The relationship was one of those “yeah, not such a good idea” things…our lives were going two such hugely different directions. 🙂 BUT I have to say, he hugely impacted me in this area of intentionally encouraging others. The littlest compliment really can speak such life to someone else…
It’s an area I’m still working on, of course…but I feel like the more we invest in uplifting others, the more we actually uplift ourselves, too.
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It’s such a challenge! Always growing in this, too!