“I want to suggest a new Beatitude: ‘Blessed are the sincere who pay compliments.’

For I have just had a compliment, and it has changed my day.

I was irritated. Tired. Discouraged. Nothing seemed much use. Now suddenly all this is changed.

I feel a spurt of enthusiasm, of energy and joy. I am filled with hope. I like the whole world better, and myself, and even you.

Lord, bless the person who did this for me.

He probably hasn’t the faintest idea how his few words affected me. But wherever he is, whatever he’s doing, bless him. Let him too feel this sense of fulfillment, this recharge of fire and faith and joy.

Thank you, God, for this simple miracle so available to all of us. And that we don’t have to be saints to employ its power.

Remind me to use it more often to heal and lift and fortify others’ lives:
a compliment!

Poem by Marjorie Holmes