After I went out on my first date with Patty when we were both Sophomores in college, the first thought that came to my mind when I returned to my dorm room was, “does she like me?” I wasn’t sure if she liked me, and if she did, how much? And I wasn’t sure how to figure out if she liked me. I suppose the best thing to have done, to save time, was to ask her, “Hey, do you like me?” “You do!” “On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you like me?” I didn’t consider that option because I wasn’t sure if I could handle the rejection if it ended up that I was a 2.

Do you ever have those kinds of thoughts when you hang out with a bunch of friends or family or work associates or church people? Do you ever wonder if it seems like someone is less friendly than usual if they are upset at you for some reason? As a pastor when I finish preaching I wonder, did they like it?

It all seems kind of silly, doesn’t it? I am a grown 74 year old man, I should be past that insecurity stuff. I wish I was, it makes me kind of uptight, wondering who likes me and who doesn’t, who I am a 10 with, and who hates my guts.

I hear people often say, “I don’t care who likes me and who doesn’t!” When I hear that, my thought is, “Yeh, right. Are you lying or just self-deceived?”

What I try to do is treat everybody like a 10. I know I fail at that because of lack of social skills, but that is my goal, and I work at it diligently. A principle that I have found to be true; the harder I work at making everyone feel like a 10, the more I like them, and the less I think about whether they like me. That is a cool principle.

I did discover that I was a 10 with Patty! And that is pretty cool as well!