Manners and Being a Real Person Who Shows Grace to Others!

Maralee McKee is the Manners Mentor - she speaks and writes about manners on her blog, the Manners Mentor. I recently was browsing and noticed a post about how to be Real and Polite. In it Maralee said, "Etiquette and manners are two different things. They tend to be lumped together. To be understood, they must be separated. Manners are the language of our truest self. Their foundation is anchored in our heart. They can’t be faked. Kind manners are our regard for the feelings and comfort of others. Manners are the hidden fruit our spirit yields. Hopefully it includes a healthy crop of kindness, gentleness, self-control, patience… the list continues. Don’t be fooled; when expressed properly, manners never cause us to become a doormat. Instead, we’re a beacon in an unsteady world." 

Maralee says manners are . . . "a virtue, and like any virtue it’s never too late to acquire it for ourselves. How to add a virtue?

•  First, prayerfully desire it;
•  Secondly, practice it until it becomes the rule instead of the exception in your interactions. 

Once grounded in your heart, it becomes an attribute and no longer a mask."

Maralee goes on to talk about Etiquette - it's value and importance. Read her entire post at this link, and while you are at it, take a moment to "like" her blog on facebook so you are able to receive her daily manners moments! And notice the link between manners and the Fruit of the Spirit! If we are living each day making the intentional choice to show the Fruit in our everyday interactions with others, we will be people who treat others with grace!

As we work with those in our children's ministries, lets model how to be "real" and help them learn to show regard for the feeling and comfort of others by the manners they have so they are able to become a beacon to their world!

Can you see why I love to read what Maralee writes? :-) By the way, her book, Manners That Matter for Moms: The Essential Book of Life Skills for Your Kids is available - on Amazon and is a book all moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas and volunteers and teachers . . . and anyone who works with children will not only read, but will make one of their "go-to" resources for the tools we all need as we raise and serve children who we want to grow up to know, love and walk with Jesus!