This is an invitation. Should you find this invitation desirable or even compelling, you might respond with a comment. We live in a culture where more and more people are openly crude, insulting, belittling, and demeaning.
Perhaps we could use an invitation to be gracious. As Fred Craddock one said, “The final act of grace is graciousness.” Perhaps many would find the practice of graciousness to be refreshing and life-giving.
So what is a gracious person?
*A gracious person is slow to take credit and quick to lavish praise.
*A gracious person never seeks to embarrass another. Deliberately humiliating another is far from graciousness. (Please don’t say something to humiliate someone and then try to excuse yourself by saying, “I was just joking.” Such a passive-aggressive move is far from what we were called to be.)
*A gracious person expresses thankfulness to others.
*A gracious person does not monopolize conversations. Before we continue to talk on and on, we might think about just how much others have to offer, if they were just given the opportunity to speak.
*A gracious person doesn’t try to play “one-upmanship.” (“That’s nothing, you should have seen what I did.”)
*A gracious person pays attention to others. Sometimes people will come away from such a conversation saying, “She made me feel like I was the most important person in the room.”
*A gracious person looks out for the comfort and well being of others.
*A gracious person desires to say what is appropriate. (There is nothing of value about choosing to empty one’s mind of whatever fleeting thought happens to land at the moment.)
*A gracious person looks for the good in others.
We might find that many people have a genuine hunger to experience the beauty of graciousness. After all, this is nothing more than grace lived out. And that grace, originates in the heart of God