On Again, Off Again

Two weeks ago, just before my computer burned out, someone paid me a lavish compliment — I’ve never known quite how to handle compliments.

Of course, being vain, deep in my heart I agree heartily with their compliment and my own mind thinks it should be even more lavish.

So I could respond by saying, “Yes, I really am great! A whole lot greater than you think. And it’s about time you realized how handsome, (smart, strong, beautiful, whatever) I am”.

That’s churlish.

On the other hand, I feel that the compliment is undo, that what the giver is commenting about is of little account. And I fear that I’ll be found out and exposed as a fraud.

So I could reply to a compliment on how nice I look in the blue shirt by discounting it by saying, “Oh, this old rag. I’ve had it for ages. Bought if for a dollar in the thrift store”.

What I’m telling the compliment giver in such a case is, “If you had any taste at all, you’d know that this is a cheap shirt. You lack judgment. If you were not an uneducated clod, you’d know better than to appreciate something like this”.

As I’ve pondered on why I feel uncomfortable receiving compliments, I came to realize that I do not want to put the giver down, nor do I want to appear conceited in my own eyes either; therefore, honesty is the best policy.

Isn’t that an astounding revelation?

The best thing to say when someone pays a compliment is “Thank you. That makes me feel good. You just gave me a lift”.

Such a statement neither puffs me up nor puts them down. It’s honest.

So, to reply to the persons who complimented me, “Thank you. Your kind words give me a lift”.

In other news:

Last night Ginny and I got to meet Nancy, Mark’s mother. (Mark and our daughter Eve are engaged to marry on a cruise ship in a few months).

The captain will marry them and the happy couple will sail away into the sunset — IF, Mark goes ahead and gets in his passport application. If not, Eve, who already has her passport, may have to toss him her bouquet on the dock while she sails away alone.

They’ll work it out.

Or not.

Nancy is an adjunct professor of psychology at a university up north but her heart-love is raising and training show horses. Mark developed a website for her at horse business at http://www.harmonyacresparadehorses.com/ .There are photos of Nancy and her horses there.

The five of us enjoyed great food and conversation at a Chinese restaurant. This trip to Jacksonville is the first time Nancy has been in the South. I wish Ginny and I could expose her more to the real Florida but we’ll have to leave that to the kids.

I’m too much of an enthusiast to make a good guide.

In other news, yesterday’s mail brought news that 71 copies of my book Strangers On The Earth have recently sold in the Philippians.

Wow!

Seventy-One copies sold in the Philippians.!

Wow. I’ll bet Stephen King cant say that. (So, he may have sold a few more than 71 copies of his books. But I’d bet he and I get the same sense of satisfaction when a book takes off).

Anyhow, I’m happy over the news about Strangers.

Many thanks to those or you who have bought my books. I appreciate you.

Another thing that makes me happy is that today Ginny and I leave for a lone weekend mini-vacation.

Yes, yes. I know. I’ve been back on line for two days after a two week forced absence and here I am taking off again till June 26^th or 27^th. After that, God willing, I plan to stay at my desk working with this glow-in-the-dark computer.

We are going downstate with no set agenda except to be together and love — maybe visit state parks and lounge around a fresh water spring beach reading.

While my machine has been broke down, I felt I should read the Bible more. I just could not face New Testament Gospels or Epistles just now (I always feel they give me a beating) and I did not feel up to the Hebrew poetry of the Psalms.

So, I naturally gravitated to the historical books (no surprise there, what with me being a history buff).

I began reading the books of I & II Samuel and I & II Kings, and I’ve enjoyed them thoroughly.

Reading these books is a bit like watching a mad slasher movie interspersed with bits of profound theology.

You know, “And he borrowed a sword and hacked him to pieces before the Lord”

Good stuff like that.

As exciting as James Bond.

Inspirational too.

I recommend it.

Ginny says I have odd taste in summer beach-reading material.