Do you find it hard to graciously receive? To receive compliments, to receive gifts, or to receive help?

First of all, let me just say that this is an ability I’ve had to work on in my own life— to be able to receive graciously and to simply say thank you without minimizing myself or the other person in the process.

Let me explain a little more about what I mean by this.

Over this last week, I have received and been blessed with such an outpouring of support, love, and encouragement from so many different directions as it relates to my transition leaving The John Maxwell Team.

People have shared with me so many ways I’ve had an impact in their lives through my role within The John Maxwell Team and outside of it as well.

Once upon a time in my own life, instead of simply saying, “Thank you for noticing,” when people expressed their gratitude, I would have said something like, “Oh thank you, but it’s really not about me. I was just fortunate enough to partner with John in the first place. I was lucky to be in that position.”

Do you see what I was doing?

I was downplaying and marginalizing myself and I was also denying the other person the opportunity to express gratitude.

Expressing gratitude for people, places, things, experiences, or really anything for that matter, is one of the most powerful things you can do in your life to keep you focused on what’s really important.

It keeps you in the place of thankfulness and keeps you moving forward rather than staying stuck.

Aside from love, gratitude is the most powerful energy we can express.

So, my question to you is this: how do you do at graciously receiving?

Whether you need what the other person is offering or not, do you receive it with kindness and grace and acceptance, or do you downplay yourself and even the other person in their role of expressing gratitude?

I remember when I realized that by saying something like, “Oh, it wasn’t really me,” or, “The impact you experienced was really because of the team,” and other statements like that, I was doing so much more harm than good.

I thought I was being humble. But really, I was expressing a sense of rebellion toward the giftedness with which God has blessed me. I was denying the other person in one of the very most important ways they were expressing themselves in their own growth journey.

So, I have reached back to as many of the emails, Facebook comments, and so forth that I can.

And I just want to say, if you reached out to me and I didn’t respond, or someone on my team didn’t get back to you on my behalf, I just want to say thank you.

Thank you for noticing. I appreciate you and I appreciate being able to play this role in your life.

Let me encourage you to take some time to do a small self-evaluation of where you stand with your ability to graciously receive.

… And if it’s hard for you, really search within and ask yourself why.

Because experiencing freedom in this one area is going to open you up in so many ways.