Learning to say...

Over the past couple of weeks, I have noticed I have a deep and dark personality defect that I am now desperately trying to correct. Wendy and Tonya probably already have a list of my personality defects, but I’m talking about one specifically: my inability to receive appreciation. To correct this problem, I am learning to say, “you’re welcome” when people tell me “thank you.”

You may not think this is such a big deal, but I have reflected lately about how insincere and unappreciative it sounds when someone responds to a heartfelt expression of gratitude with a flippant “no problem” or “anytime.” Not that there is anything inherently wrong with these phrases, it is just that they do not convey my feelings very well.

As I have begun my little campaign to correct the defect, I have noticed that I tend to look people in the eye, smile, and then say, “you’re welcome.” I think these are good habits. I have also noticed how few times people actually say the phrase; instead, they substitute other phrases that don’t carry the weight of the “you’re welcome.”

On a completely different subject, last Sunday I preached at Jenkins Memorial Baptist Church in St. Martinville. That gave me a pretty good reason to get dressed up. So here is that picture, and all I have to say is one word:

Snazzy!