The Best Compliment

Herb’s Blog, Herbdate 23056 – 1086

Here’s the haps:

(Now, thanks to John and Beetlypete I know how to find these prompts. If you are completely self-hosted as I am, your interface with WordPress, even using the Jetpack app, is different. I get the prompt on the Jetpack app on my phone but that’s all.)

What was the best compliment you’ve received?

WP Prompt 03/21/2023

I will probably only use these prompts when they intrigue me and I think I may have something to say. Of course, we know that I can go two or three weeks without posting so perhaps these will help with that. As you can see I probably won’t post them on the same day as they appear.

I have been a Sunday School teacher for approximately 33 years. In that time I have taught in different classes with ages ranging from the nursery, 2 – 3-year-olds up to 10 – 12 year-olds. I have spent various amounts of time in each over the years. One of my longer running assignments has been with the 10 – 12-year-olds. The other day the superintendent told me that I would be moving to the 7 – 9-year-olds and working with a new team. It’s always exciting to work with a new team and always sad to leave a team that you have worked with for a long time.

My position is somewhat unique in that, on the team I am leaving, the head teacher was one of my students when I first started out teaching and I was with him when he first started teaching. On the team I am going to, I have known the head teacher since she was in her late teens or early twenties, and another new teacher is a young man I have watched grow up since he was a baby. Now he is a married man and I got to hear him teach his first lesson last Sunday. God is awesome and life is good.

My friend, whose class I’m leaving, is a guy and he picked out an exceptionally nice going away present for me. A bag of Black Rifle Coffee and a Steel mug with the Scripture, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”(Eph 6:10 KJV) on it. Well, it’s in NIV but you can’t find too many Christian gifts with anything else.

Being a guy, he also wraps presents like a stereotypical guy, meaning, just throw it in a gift bag and hand it off. Now, as an aside, I am not stereotypical in that regard but at my first jobs in retail if a customer asked for something to be gift-wrapped then you did it and you did a nice job or your boss would hear about it. So after a few lessons with perfectionist older ladies I gained the knowledge and can do a fairly decent wrapping job. My friend’s teenage daughter, whom I’ve known since she was a very young girl, was having none of this bag stuff. “Dad, I will wrap the present and do it right. Take me to Hobby Lobby, please.” She picked out the box and the stuffing and really classed up an already fine present. But then, the whole family has a lot of class. When one of my daughters saw the box on my shelf she remarked that it was smiling at her.

“That’s really nice, Herb. Is that what you’re calling a compliment?” You asked. You didn’t? Somebody did. Anyway, the best compliment is actually plural, compliments. I have 2 that stem from this same thing. The Sunday night after I announced my moving to a different class, one of the boys came up to me and hugged me, and said, “I miss you already!”

Then, the Sunday morning I started in the new class a little girl handed me a note that said, “Dear Bro. Thiel, I’m glad you’re in oure class. I can’t wait to hear what you have to teach”