Seek to Speak with Grace

Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone. – (Colossians 4:6, NLT)

When you talk, you should always be kind and wise. Then you will be able to answer everyone in the way you should. – (Colossians 4:6, ERV)

Your speech should always be gracious and sprinkled with insight so that you may know how to respond to every person. – (Colossians 4:6, CEB)

 

The words that we speak either attract others and build trust, or they repel and turn people away. If we are seeking the Lord’s wisdom and pursuing insight through listening to others rather than speaking without hearing, we find opportunity to extend grace and give the right response at the right time. May we make the choice to use our voice for kindness, as we seek first to understand so that we may offer insight and respond the right way.

 

Let all that we say, 

Be gracious and kind;

As we choose to hear,

Keep Your will in mind.

Grant us Your insight,

So we respond well;

Your grace extended,

With what we choose tell.

May our chosen words,

Demonstrate Your grace;

So all come to know,

Safety in Your space.

 

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for those who were gracious and kind to us, who were able to answer us with wisdom and the right response at the right time. Thank You that as we seek You and trust You, You provide the same opportunity for us to be available for others. Forgive us for not seeking Your wisdom and grace, or for not slowing down to really listen first. Teach us to trust You more, so that we would choose kindness and grace, ever being quick to listen and slow to speak. Show us how to love those around us well, so that we extend Your kindness and grace and offer the right response at the right time. May many come into a lasting relationship with You. Be glorified O God, as we listen to Your leading so that our every conversation is full of Your grace. Amen.

 

© Shannon Elizabeth Moreno and Revelations in Writing, May 2011 – present

 

Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; …my hope is in You all day long. – Psalm 25:4-5

Adorn Our Hearts

You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. – (1 Peter 3:4, NLT)

Let your adornment be what’s inside – the real you, the lasting beauty of a gracious and quiet spirit, in which God delights. – (1 Peter 3:4, VOICE)

 

We are constantly bombarded with images and messages about what is beautiful. If we wear this clothing, or have that hair, or fit a certain body type – then, then we will be considered beautiful. That “beauty” is both fleeting and subjective. Fashion and trends come and go, and external beauty is in the eye of the beholder. However, the beauty that lasts and matters most to God, is the sort that is developed and upheld in our hearts. When we seek after Him, and are in step with our Savior, a gracious, and settled spirit emerges from us wherever we go. People are drawn to this sort of beauty that lasts. Our hearts, in which the Lord delights, are what attract others to draw near. Interestingly enough, the most beautiful people I know have hearts after God, and what is on the inside overflows to that which is seen. May we invest in adorning ourselves with the lasting beauty of His goodness and grace, as we go forth in the gentleness and quietness of a spirit that is set secure on our Savior.

 

Let us choose be clothed,

In traits of the Lord;

For internal light,

Is beauty adored.

The things of this world,

Are fleeting at best;

For external fades,

When time puts to test.

A gentle spirit,

Quiet and at peace;

Is precious to God,

And shall never cease.

This is true beauty,

That draws others near;

A heart after God,

Walking without fear.

 

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that You are not so interested in how we adorn the external, but rather how we invest our hearts in You. Thank You that as we seek You and trust You, You create a beauty from within. You place in us a gracious and quiet spirit, that is secure in whom You have created us to be. Forgive us for our insecurities that cause our focus to shift to the external rather than within. Teach us to prioritize our focus on the beauty of our hearts according to Your standards, rather than the external according to the world. Show us how to love those around us with gracious and gentle spirits, so that we would be quick to recognize the beauty in those around us. May many come into a lasting relationship with You. Be glorified O God, as we seek to adorn ourselves with beautiful hearts. Amen.

© Shannon Elizabeth Moreno and Revelations in Writing, May 2011 – present

God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me. – Genesis 21:6