Gracious - Post 3

So....how can I be gracious in daily life?  Well......I could remember my manners.  Say please and thank you and excuse me.  Those are great ideas.  But do those things really make a difference in the eternities?  Probably not.  Okay, maybe a little. 

I am currently reading a great book called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  One thing she talks about in the book is to basically give people the benefit of the doubt.  If someone cuts you off in traffic, instead of grumbling or heaven forbid, calling them a name and yelling out the car window at them while blaring your horn, you cut them some slack.  I think I'm going to try to make up an explanation for their behavior.  It will probably be something completely outlandish - like, wow, I bet his wife is in labor with their twentieth child and he is hurrying to the hospital. 

Maybe that lady who cut in front of you in the line at the pharmacy is picking up medicine for her ailing parent and she can only be away from their bedside for fifteen minutes.

Maybe the checker at the grocery store was cranky and made a mistake ringing up your purchases. Maybe she was preoccupied because her husband just lost his job and she can't figure out how they are going to pay their bills.

Maybe the customer who left you a really lousy tip is paying for cancer treatments for his daughter and just had to treat himself to a nice lunch to cheer himself up but honestly had no money left for a tip, even though he thought he did.

Maybe your best friend forgot your birthday.  But maybe it was because she spent the day at the hospital holding the hand of her grandparent as they passed away.

To me, that is being gracious.  Realizing that there are ALWAYS circumstances that we don't know about that may influence someone's behavior towards us AND then being not only understanding, but also KIND and MERCIFUL towards them is one part of being gracious in my mind. Heavenly Father can see our extenuating circumstances.  Because of this, He knows when to extend mercy and how much.  We don't have that advantage.  We are required to "forgive all men". Or to be gracious to all men (and women and children).