Living a Graceful Life

Hello!

I am getting ready for my day and was thinking about living a graceful life.  To me, this means MOST importantly, to be graceful in the spirit, in the soul.  It means being EXTRA kind to the grouchy check out person.  It means smiling at the person who is scowling.  It means not putting myself first and swallowing my temper (which is extremely hard!).

I am finding, as well, that little, seemingly insignificant, things also contribute to me having a life of grace.  Walking more slowly.  Slowing my breathing.  Lowering my voice.  Taking time to smooth sheets and putting things away.  Making each room deliberate--ready to receive visitors.

The funny thing is that I used to rush, rush, rush.  Always late, often stressed, high speed/low drag.  I was afraid, I think, that if I let go of that then either my life would mean little OR I would get further behind.  However, as I am practicing being deliberate in every choice, every move, every word, time is actually EXPANDING for me.  It is almost uncanny.  Yesterday I was pretty leisurely in the first half of the grocery store.  A friend had texted me with some revelations and burdens, so my choosing of breakfast cereal and reading labels for gluten for Precious was interspersed with pausing to chat, to commisserate, to encourage, to listen.  The first half of the store passed slowly in my heart, but was accomplished very quickly.

The second half of the store was different.  Our conversation was ended, I felt the pinch of worry, of haste, of forgetting something on aisle 12 and having to backtrack.  While I put fewer items in my cart, the time passed quickly and I was very much later, both in time and in my harried heart.  It was unpleasant and left me more likely to scowl or snap (I didn't, but I know me...I could easily succumb to irritation).

Busyness, I find, is the theif of peace.  Oh I do not mean we should slip into idleness and not do any work and just spend all day Pinteresting.  No!  I mean that our work should be done deliberately, with patience and calmness and a cheerful heart.  It is a hard habit to get into, but it is just that--a habit to get into.  Taking the time to pause and make something beautiful or excellent is never time wasted.  Taking time to soothe a wound or exhort a faltering heart is good medicine for the receiver AND the giver.  The Lord has our steps measured out for us, our work to do.  When we are calm and unflustered and willing to flow around whatever obstacles we have, it is amazing how much we get accomplished and how much energy we have to do it.

I am just now learning this lesson.  I have tried busyness.  I have tried idleness.  Now I am trying gracefulness, and what a wonderful and blessed way to live life!