Week 5 – Just Say …

Just Say…

I grew up in an Alabama college town and I had two brothers who were almost 10 and almost 11 years older than me. When I was 14, my oldest brother moved away from home and got married. The middle brother stayed in our hometown all his life.

When I was a junior and senior in high school, my mom allowed me to go with my brother on Friday nights to a bible study for college students that met at my high school principal’s home. I loved it. I didn’t feel that I really fit in with the high school kids and I loved getting to know the college students.

One Friday night one of the guys, Jimmy Strickland, gave me a hug and said, “Wow. You smell nice.” I didn’t know what to say and it didn’t help that I thought Jimmy was cute. I got all embarrassed and said, “No I don’t.” Jimmy then said something to me that I have never forgotten, “Linda, just say ‘Thank You.'” So, I said, “Thank You.” As happens in college towns, Jimmy graduated, got a job and moved away. I haven’t seen him since, but over the last 39 years I have never forgotten him.

After that incident, I started watching and listening to other people as they were given compliments. Some people knew how to receive a compliment and just say “Thank you,” but not many that I knew.

My mother would do the same thing I did. If someone told her that her dress was pretty, she would say something like, “Oh, this old thing? It’s as old as Methuselah,” or “I’ve had this forever and it was cheap when I got it.” If someone told her she looked great, she would say something like, “You mean I’ve always looked like an old woman?” People would laugh, but they always appeared a little uncomfortable after her remarks. I began to realize that Jimmy did more to teach me how to receive a compliment and just say “Thank You” than anyone else ever did.

Last week as part of The Master Key Experience, we had to write on a card four simple things, read and do them daily. This would put us in The Flow of Affluence. They are:

1. Wherever I go I bring a gift. I may bring a compliment, prayer, trinket, flower…but I promise I will give something to every person I encounter.
2. I promise to be a grateful receiver of the gifts that surround me pausing often and noticing nature, kindnesses, smiles, and compliments, which I gladly receive with a “thank you.”
3. I promise to give hope for joy, affluence, kindness, and love, consciously with every encounter, regardless of the brevity.
4. I promise to give, without expectation of reciprocity, from the channels I enrich, because I know I am in the dynamic flow of giving and receiving.

Every time I read these, it strikes me that here again is the lesson I learned from Jimmy. I promise to be a grateful receiver of the gifts that surround me pausing often and noticing nature, kindnesses, smiles, and compliments, which I gladly receive with a “thank you.” I am so glad I got the reminder to be a grateful receiver and to just say, “Thank You.”

If anyone knows Jimmy Strickland, who graduated from Auburn University and went to work for Tom’s Foods in Columbus, GA, please pass the message to him that I think of him often and just say, “Thank You!”

Click here to read more in my journey in The Master Key Experience.

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