Good Gracious

"A gracious woman gains honor ..." "The law of kindness is upon her tongue." ... Proverbs 11:16, 31:26


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This morning all bleary-eyed at 4:15 a.m., I saw at Facebook that a friend had posted her mother's obituary. She was 85.

Probably twice I'd spoken to her mom and you know? She had that old-fashioned graciousness which I love, and frankly, crave, for myself.


Gracious:  pleasantly kind and courteous. Graceful. Marked by tact and delicacy. Characterized by good taste and generosity.
Obsolete: godly. (But hey, Debra here--is it really obsolete? Or just Today's world saying so?)


Anyway, while I was growing-up, Gracious Women practically 'grew on trees'. You glimpsed them too, right? But now, well-- though they're still around--in some cities you must search for them. Maybe because ours is a 'let it all hang out' world and well, Gracious Women do not let it all hang out.

They just don't.  😉

What, to me, makes Gracious Women shine brightest? Before our weary eyes, they vibrantly live-out this Bible verse:


"Let your conversation always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."   ... Colossians 4:6

When you're introduced to a Gracious Woman she'll make you feel comfortable, as though she's waited to meet you--and aren't you just the most interesting person!

Basically, she treats you as she'd appreciate being treated.

Or you invite your Gracious Woman friend to see your new orange and purple living room with the horizontal stripes? She never once wrinkles her nose. No, she exclaims, "Oh! You did a wonderful job of painting, and I love that beautiful tall, grey urn with the graceful branches in the corner."

A true Gracious Woman's eyes search any room/yard/song/social media post for what she admires (always there's something or we're just not looking hard enough). Then she speaks her admiration, rather like a blessing, instead of commenting upon the things she disliked.

And right there is where I'll lose some of you, for my modern-thinking readers believe we must be free. 

Free to speak.

Free to criticize. 

Free to spill every opinion: good, bad or awful.

But a Gracious Woman? She's humble and secure enough to keep her tongue, still. Peoples' feelings, to her, are more important than her right to blab speak and she does not feel deprived or repressed about it, either.

Instead, she'll lay her head upon her pillow and feel contentment. Why? She was careful with others feelings--and now happiness will sing her to sweet hours of sleep.

And you know, when you've experienced grace and you feel like you've been forgiven, you're a lot more forgiving of other people. You're a lot more gracious to others. 

--Rick Warren


"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."  ... Ephesians 4:29

(I could write more about a Gracious Woman, but hey. This is only a blog post, not a book.)  😃

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Speaking of sleep, a longtime reader emailed me, asking for a link to one of my posts about getting a good night's rest. Since I've made some changes of my own in this area, I sent an updated email, instead. Here, below, is most of it in case anyone else needs some hints (I keep reading that this is a common problem these days)--

A super dark room helps. And quiet. And no pets on the bed. heh.

Eating dinner as early as possible is good. I sleep best when I have dinner, like, 4 hours before bedtime, but that's not always possible.

I've learned which foods I must avoid eating for dinner (it's good to experiment and take notes). For me, personally, I avoid chicken for dinner, as well as rice, pasta, potatoes, apples and chocolate. If I have these for lunch, instead, I sleep better.

I take 300 mcg's of melatonin, which I believe is the smallest dosage. Higher dosages can mess up our own natural supply of melatonin. But if I had real coffee in the morning (or other trigger foods), I sometimes do take 2 of these melatonin pills.

Also before bed I take a magnesium pill (400 mg's) and a krill oil pill (1,000 mg's). Tom swears by Natural Calm, a powder you add to water, but it's pricey wherever you find it. Tastes good and helps, though.    (Go here.)

When I eat a couple bites of banana before bed, I sleep better. A spoon of peanut butter helps, also, but some proteins keep some people awake. That's another thing to personally experiment with. Beef protein helps me sleep, but it keeps other people awake, etc.

Going to bed roughly the same time each night really helps. If you watch tv before bed, it's good to watch something funny or comforting and nice.  

Oh, and as you've probably surmised, Tom and I do sleep in separate rooms. We both sleep so much better that way and it's just not worth the lack of sleep to be 'proper' in everybody's eyes. heh.  It used to make us so tense because we were keeping each other awake. Oh my.  

The noise of a fan helps me sleep and keeping one blowing on me during the summer, helps.

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... and as I shared at Facebook yesterday--

Oh! The Brady Bunch house is for sale. Well, the one they used for exterior shots. From the listing, I peeked inside and could just see myself walking over plush carpet. serving drinks on a tray while 
wearing a chiffon apron over a polyester 70's dress. 

Anyone else?  Go here to check it out for yourself.

(Personally, I love the 70's elegance of the interior. Love. It.)