“Don’t underestimate the power of one compliment.”

A thought by Mark Batterson (2016-09-06) from his book, Chase the Lion: If Your Dream Doesn't Scare You, It's Too Small (Kindle Location 676). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title of the book to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Mark says, “One word of encouragement has the potential to change a person’s perspective on life, a person’s plot line for all eternity. And don’t just compliment people to their faces. Brag about them behind their backs! The right word at the right time can be the catalyst for someone else’s dream.

Mark has a friend whose name is Don Miller. Mark says, “Don is a New York Times best-selling author who has sold millions of books, but during his younger years he was somewhat of a misfit. Actually, his self-assessment is a little more brutal: ‘I wasn’t good at anything.’ Then Don was asked to write a short article for his high school youth group newsletter. That’s when one unscripted encounter, one compliment rewrote his storyline. Someone said, ‘Don, you’re a really good writer.” It was the first time anyone had told Don he was good at anything. That punch line punctuates Don’s life. It put a period on his feelings of incompetence and began a new sentence, a new chapter in his life.”

You and I have that power to be used in someone else's life to maybe help them start a new chapter in their life. As Mark says, “Don’t underestimate the power of one compliment.”

So what compliment has made a difference in your life?

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