Praise is Love Personified

Spirit (Ling): Greetings.

We would like to bring forward that ‘Praise is Love Personified’.

Europeans, particularly men of British and Scandinavian descent, are particularly self-conscious of the word ‘love’, and as we have stated before, it has become commonplace and lost a lot of its true meaning; but the word 'praise’, there is nothing to stop any of us, not using the word ‘praise’ but practising it.

A man may not want to go up to a fellow man and say “I love you”, most of the races I have mentioned would shy off, (I think that is the expression you would use), but you would be quite willing to go up and say, “That was well done”, or “That’s not a bad coat you’re wearing”, I can’t imagine any of you saying, “That’s a beautiful coat”, but in a half derogatory manner you would praise something that that man had, and in its own way, it is a form of love.

If you cannot use the true word and this we understand is difficult, you can praise.  Now you may think, “Well people will accept praise and think nothing of it”, but it does mean a great deal, and if any of you people can remember your dogs, to praise your dog… he is so happy he nearly wags his tail end off.  Just by you praising him, the tone of voice, he may not understand your words, but he feels it.

The same as the man you go to and say, “That’s not a bad coat you’ve got on”.  He will know by your words that you’ve praised something of his.  It makes him feel better.  He may possibly straighten his shoulders up to show off that coat that you have praised.  But it’s not only the garment the person is wearing; it may be what they have achieved… “The vegetable garden is fine”,  “I like the paint job you’ve done”, or “You ran a good race”.  There is so much that you can praise.

The ladies,  (God bless them), are better at this than the men, but even so, every human being does hold back on the essential of giving love.  It doesn’t mean hugs and kisses; it’s a form of appreciation too.  You appreciate your neighbour, your bus driver, the man who perhaps delivers something to your door, the lady behind the counter… your small comment, your small praise, your small taking an interest, or remembering something about them, to ask about them… man woman or child, old or young, of another nationality, if it is someone foreign to your land that you come in contact with, don’t be busy telling them all about your country, remember to ask them about theirs.

There you would need to be delicate, because in some cases their memories may be such that they want to forget them.   But initially, by being tactful you could ask about the climate and that may open their hearts, because they have found a human being that is interested in them, and that is also a type of praise.  They think, “Perhaps I am a little bit of interest to them, I’m not just another person who has come to live in their land, that perhaps they don’t want.”

We must love everyone.  We must try and praise everyone.  You don’t have to say, “I love you”, but you can find a word of praise no matter how small.  You may look at some person who is sour, not likeable at all, but somewhere there must be something that you can praise about them.  It is up to us to try and find that something.  Practise makes perfect.  You’ll get used to looking at people a bit closer to find something to praise in them.

This is indirect, but you may praise their dog, praise a flower that they’ve grown, but in doing this they feel better and you in your way have given them a tiny bit of love, a tiny little bit of making them feel a little bit better.  A bit like a smile, and yet carrying it a little bit further.

So think as you go about your daily life, those you see, those you speak to, try and bring a little bit of love into their life.  Don’t make a big song and dance about it, like some groups do of singing of love, love, love, but be sincere.  If you only do it once in a day, or once in a week, make it sincere.  It all helps God and indirectly, providing it is always done with the right motive, is helping you too.

Sometimes it is a struggle to do the right thing.

God bless you.

Goodnight.