Lost Lessons

 

Power in Praise

The book arrived a couple of days ago. 

I saw that. You started it.

Yes, but I was doing a review read for two different authors and needed to finish those. I still have to write the reviews. But I'm reading it. I'm about 16 pages in.

And....

.....

AND...

I know. I know. So, I kind of messed up. 

Messed up?

Well, I forgot the formula.

I think we were previously talking about your shirt. You know, the praise shirt you needed to put on.

Yeah. I got that. See, I thought I'd been doing that. 

Hmmm...

But apparently, not really. 

Uh-huh.

Well, really, but not in everything. Some things ... well, you know.

I do, but I'd rather you admit it.

Oh, come on. You KNOW. 

.....

{sigh}

.....

All right! Some things I wanted to you fix. I wasn't praising you for the way they were because I didn't want them the way they were. So ...

That's enough. You got it. So, you got that in 16 pages? I'm impressed.

Not really. I feel stupid. Prison to Praise and Power in Praise, by Merlin Carothers, were two favorite books of mine in the 70s. They had a tremendous impact on me as a teen and stuck with me for years. I lost my copies, and they went out of print, I think. That was before Amazon, but I didn't forget about them. It truly worked then. Somewhere along the way, I forgot about it. Well, I stopped practicing it. I realized it as soon as I started reading it this week.

Finish it.

I will. But I have to tell you, I recognize I'm different now. I'm not the teenager with rosy glasses. I'm finding it harder to see how I can do this. In everything, praise you. That sounds great. In theory, it shouldn't be difficult. It wasn't difficult when I was 16. Life took a hard, several hard turns. Still sounds great, but it feels nearly impossible. 

You are 16 pages in. There is a lot more book before you evaluate things. 

I need to succeed here. This is a lesson I learned and lost, and I need to regain it. 

Let's do it.

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