Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your daily eword. We are looking again at the Love Project which helps us see the importance of walking in love, and exhibiting the 7 main characteristics of a loving person. I hope you are motivated to walk in love and demonstrate love as a way of life. Together we can make it a way of life, and positively change our world. Here is your encouraging word about courtesy for today.
Have you seen the plaque that says “Be nice or leave”? My sister has one right by her back door and it cracks me up every time I read it. It is a reminder to have good manners at her house. This week we continue The Love Project, we are talking about courtesy. If you have ever had someone in your life who mistreated you on a regular basis, I’m sure that saying would be on your door too! Courtesy in relationships can make life much more pleasant. All the time, we are faced with angry people, people who are on edge, and truly people who are going through things we may never know about. You come across discourteous people everywhere, from the work place to Main Street. When we walk in love, we can become like a healing balm in tough situations. We can be courteous when others are rude. We can make a difference in our world, simply by our reactions. The new definition of courtesy from Gary Chapman’s book, Love as a Way of Life, that we will be looking at this week is this: courtesy is the act of treating everyone as if they were your personal friend. To be courteous, means to be friendly minded. Everyone we meet can be a potential friend, and is worthy of our friendship. They are someone who is worthy learning about and knowing. Every person has value, and as a person who is making love a way of life, you recognize it. Unfortunately, there are people who don’t treat their friends very nicely. There are people who don’t treat their families very nicely. But for the most part, if we value really value the people in our life, and really want to authentically love those we are in relationship with, courtesy is a valuable and necessary characteristic that we can model. Courtesy is a habit we can aquire, and we can learn to speak, act, and live courteously. As we begin this week, I challenge you, to listen to your words, watch your actions, and observe your own life. Be kinder than necessary! Can you get better in the area of loving authentically by being courteous. I know we all can. As it says in I Thes 5:15 we can be kind to one another!
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