"You can make anyone laugh because you're so funny!" "You have a perfect body." "If only I could be as pretty as you!" "You are the smartest person I have ever met."
What awesome compliments, right?
Being told how awesome you are for a variety of reasons is such an amazing feeling. It not only makes a person feel noticed, but it makes them feel loved. Not one single person can say they don't ever like being complimented. Whether it's about the way you look with your new hairstyle, the clothes you wear, the way you talk, how you are a little quirky, or the way you have sculpted your body so well, you love when people say something about it. I don't know if it's because we are all secretly obsessed with ourselves, because we secretly despise ourselves, or a combination of the two, that a compliment goes so far.
Face it, even the most materialistic compliments make us proud.
But have you ever thought about the best compliment you've ever received? When I was younger, I always thought being called popular felt amazing. I would've said that was the best compliment ever. As I got into high school, my idea of the best compliment changed. I thought compliments about my looks were the sincerest. I'll never forget when I was a freshman and found out a senior boy thought I was "so hot." I told all my friends because it was such a wonderful thing to hear from a guy. All throughout high school, I would cherish the compliments that regarded my clothes, hair, body, etc.
But what does that say about me personally?
As I began to mature during my senior year, compliments stopped making me feel good. I lost a lot of weight, and my friends and classmates would always tell me how amazing my body looked. It was super great that my efforts to shed some weight was noticed, but other things were changing about me, too! I was becoming a mature woman, getting my life together, and becoming more positive. So why did people only notice the stuff that wasn't actually me.
Until the day I received the only compliment that still makes me proud.
"I see God in you."
Although I do not think that I am as glorious as God, I do have God within me. I was blessed with the ability to dance and exercise, I was blessed with the brain to learn challenging concepts, and I was blessed with a big heart. I didn’t work my entire life for these things. Yes, I’ve worked at improvement, but I didn’t give myself the ability. God gave me that. I realized that the most beautiful people didn’t make themselves that way, God did. People who are witty and smart didn’t teach themselves that, God gave that personality to them. So, when people tell me that they think I’m “pretty,” or when people tell me I am “a super nice person,” it just makes me smile. I’m not saying I all of a sudden don’t like compliments, because I do! What I am saying, is that I realized I shouldn’t base my happiness on them anymore. As long as I am living my life knowing I have God within me, I am content. I don’t want to be liked by other people anymore for the way I look, I want to be appreciated by people through the way God has taken my soul into his hands.
So next time you compliment a person, maybe tell them what you see deep down inside of them instead of on the outside.
