Practice Courtesy

For today's inspiration I wanted to share a little piece on common courtesy. Unfortunately, it has become very uncommon these days. The Bible says "Be courteous...that you may inherit a blessing."

Sometimes we're not sure how to go about pleasing God. The prophet Micah simplifies it: "What does the Lord require of you....to love kindness" (Mic 6:8). Could language be clearer? Here are ten "not so common" courtesies you should work on every day, and teach your children. After all, if they don't learn common courtesy from you, where are they going to learn it?

1) Go out of your way to speak to people. "Pleasant words are...healing" (Pr 16:24)

2) Try to remember their names - it shows you value them.

3) Smile. It increases your "face value".

4) Be friendly and helpful. If you do, people will return it. (See Pr 18:24)

5) Show genuine interest. You can find something good in almost anybody if you try. (See Php 4:8)

6) Be generous with your praise and cautious with your criticism.

7) Be slow to judge. There are 3 sides to every story - your side, their side, and the right side.

8) Instead of "using" others, serve them: "By love serve one another" (Gal 5:13)

9) Start trusting people - it builds lasting relationships.

10) Be humble. Oswald Chambers said, "When a saint becomes concious of being a saint, something has gone wrong."

Courtesy does two things: a) it speaks well of your parents and b) it determines your level of blessing.


When I first read this paragraph about a year ago, it really spoke to me. I sometimes feel that I don't portray courtesy to others. Not purposely, but I just never think about it so I'm sure I come off rude when I don't even mean to. I think we all need to make a conscious effort to be nicer to others. If everyone was nicer to each other, there would be a lot less stress in this world! What I did, was try to pick one of the things I just listed and concentrate on it for about a week. Then I would move to the next thing and try to do both for the next week and so on. It really makes you feel better and people will take notice. Have a wonderful day and week ya'll!! And remember, be courteous! :)