2 of the best compliments I’ve ever been given

Serious doozies! (+ a poem that made me cry)

Hello lovely friends. You know how some people feel very awkward when they are complimented? Or cringe when their family sings them happy birthday? 

I am not that person.

I live for it. I quite literally will say, “Do go on!” When someone says something nice, and being sung to while my face is all lit up with candles is always a favorite moment on my birthday. Speaking of which…. Ya girl is now 27! (Cue “Deeper Well.”)

Look at this from-scratch angel food cake my sisters Christina and Ellie made me. (They even made fresh lemon curd and whipped cream to go on top with the fresh peaches and strawberries! Is this real life?!)

When someone in the kindness of their hearts throws us some sunshine, we should grab it with both hands! And hug it! I just think we get enough negative messages thrown at us from the media that praise or positive attention should be welcomed like something precious. We should hold it like something precious. Let it soak in and wash away some of that negative self-talk we are all a little prone too. Reveling in a compliment isn’t vain—it’s ennobling. 

Just read these two little stories and tell me it doesn’t give you a serious case of the warm fuzzies. (And maybe inspire you to give compliments a little more freely? Eh? eh?)

1. “I like her face.”

Ok, the first compliment is actually two. But they both come from adorable toddlers, so no one can complain. 

First, I got this a message from a high school friend two weeks before my wedding:

Are you kidding me?? Ugh.

Next up is this text from Adam’s cousin. We had stopped by and played with their toddler Eleanor for maybe a half hour the day before:

Thank you, Eleanor. If you think I am so pretty and so smart then maybe I just am.

2. “Go to Lunch With Emily”

This one is pretty simple, but was super meaningful to me. 

Before Adam and I got married, I was going to church in downtown SLC. Sometimes women in our ward would meet privately with our bishop to seek help or counsel. At least two times that I can remember, the bishop asked them to go to lunch with me. That was his advice. Go to lunch with Emily. He didn’t tell me why they had sought his help. He would just text me and ask me to invite that person to lunch. (And even Venmo-ed me to cover it.) 

The idea that just going to lunch with me could help someone was so touching to me. This wasn’t because I was qualified in some way. I wasn’t supposed to say or do anything specific—just be myself. Um, what. Excuse me. Tears.

We absolutely should be developing skills to better help people, we are also hopefully developing our hearts. Who you are at your core will always be your most valuable offering to the world. As David O. McKay said, “It is what we are and what we radiate that affects the people around us.”

I don’t know that those lunches changed any lives, but they did inspire me to try and be the type of woman who can be called upon to try and brighten a heart over Café Rio.

To wrap us up, here is one of my favorite quotes ever: “The highest type of discernment is that which perceives in others and uncovers for them their better natures, the good inherent within them.”

You are full of inherent good. You have a better nature ever working its way to the surface. Let the people around you help. And maybe more importantly—help the people around you :)

Extra Blossoms

A few fun links for ya….

1. This story of an 11-year-old playing the organ for his ward really will melt your heart.

2. If you haven’t listened to Emma Nissen’s new album, truly—what are you doing?

3. These cookies were seriously incredible and real easy: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

4. Oh, and this poem made me cry: