Welcome to "Tuesday Morning"—always a great introduction to whatever comes after Monday.

 

Monday the Boston Globe reported that Jim Rice, one of the most respected batters in the American League during his playing years as left fielder for the Red Sox, had been voted to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. He received 76.4% of the votes cast by the 539 writers who voted. He had been a candidate for election to the Hall since his name first appeared on the ballot in 1995. And 2009 was the final year in which he could qualify. Within four hours of his being elected, the Globe received more than five hundred messages of congratulations for the former star.

 

An eight-time All-Star, Rice spent his entire 16-year major league career with the Red Sox, batting .298 with 382 home runs and 1,451 RBIs from 1974-89. I got to see him play in person only one time, but for seven years I saw him play many times on the New England Sports Network. Rice compiled 35 home runs and 200 hits in three straight seasons and finished in the top five in Most Valuable Player voting six times. He led the league in total bases reached four times, including a whopping 406 during the 1978 season, when he was named the American League Most Valuable Player.

 

Being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame is the highest compliment that can be paid to any professional baseball player. Being elected in the final year of his eligibility does not in any way detract from the fact that Jim Rice has finally reached this lofty goal. A compliment is a compliment.

 

Christians should be among the world-class givers of compliments. We should set the pace to honor those who excel in their faith, their ethics, their personal lives, their family lives, their occupations, their generosity, and their loyalty to all that is good. It does not require a majority vote and a Hall of Fame to excel in compliment-giving. It requires our being sensitive to what is going on around us, and recognizing achievements in an appropriate way.

 

Today's epistle is simply entitled, "Compliments." Read on whenever you are ready, and then ready yourself for a week of paying compliments to the people you love and respect. It may change their lives, and it may change yours as well. Start today.

 

Tom Barnard

A Senior Compliment Giver

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Compliments

Tom Barnard

 

ll public speakers use a gimmick or two to hold the attention of their audience. One line that almost everyone uses, at some point in their public life, begins with these words: “The three most difficult things to do in life are…”

 

“…to climb a fence that is leaning towards you, to kiss a girl who is leaning away from you….”

 

The next line depends on whatever point the speaker wants to make. Almost any line will do. But the one I remember dates back 50 years or so. The speaker was addressing a group of young ministers, and the point he wanted to make had to do with accepting a compliment graciously. He said that many preachers do not receive praise very well, and it is a discipline they must master, if interpersonal relationships are important.

 

It is quite normal to desire affirmation and praise. It begins in childhood, and it never ends in this life. We appreciate kind words from other people. It is not a carnality thing; it is a human thing. There is power in positive thinking, and there is power in positive praise-giving as well. We all like to be complimented.

 

The late Leo F. Buscaglia, the tireless proponent of the power of love, once said,

 

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

 

Berton Braley, a prolific poet and writer of the early Twentieth Century, said it humorously,

 

“If you think the praise is due him,

Now’s the time to slip it to him,

For he cannot read his tombstone when he’s dead.”

 

Mark Twain said, “I can live for two months on a good compliment.” Twain also said, “I have been complimented myself a great many times, and they always embarrass me—I always feel that they have not said enough.” Okay, Twain was being Twain. But there’s truth in what he said.

 

Things to remember when you want to compliment or praise another person:

 

·        Be sincere.  There are only few things worse than using a compliment to manipulate a person.

 

·        Be honest.  Remember the old saying, “Flattery will get you nowhere…especially in our state.”

 

·        Be brief.  Repetition, by accident or choice, diminishes the positive value of a compliment.

 

·        Be specific. Don’t generalize your compliments. “Everything about you is good” will not earn points.

 

·        Do it in writing. A personal note will be treasured by a recipient for years.

 

·        Do it a second time. Following up a compliment with a note or phone call says, “I mean it.”

 

·        Do it a third time. Solomon, when writing Ecclesiastes, spoke about people accomplishing things in pairs. Then he went on to say, “Three is even better. A triple-braided cord is not easily broken” (4:12).

 

Paying a compliment must be done right the first time. A fund raiser for a British college was trying to impress important donors about the benefits of the school. “Come and visit our College,” he said, “and experience it first hand. You will see our boys and girls studying together, adventuring together, serving together, and sleeping together….” No funds were raised that day, but a lot of questions were.

 

Compliments make people feel good…about themselves and about you as well, for you have taken the time to tell them that you appreciate them. They may forget what you said, but they will not forget who said it.