Good Girls Don't Make Scenes

Hello, my sweet friends.

I'm recording a little early today. The light is just coming over the piazza, and the house is so quiet I can hear the clock in the hall.

When I was a little girl, my mother had a saying. If I cried in church, or fussed in the car, or so much as raised my voice at the supper table, she'd look at me over her glasses and say, "Good girls don't make scenes."

And then I'd go sit somewhere small and quiet until I was ready to come back.

Now, some of you are bristling already. I can feel it through the microphone. I know that phrase has been used to silence women who needed to speak up, and I would never, ever tell a woman in danger to keep quiet. That is why we built Ruth's House.

But I want to tell you what my mother gave me, because I didn't understand it until I was grown. Listen to Peter.

"Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."

A meek and quiet spirit. Of great price.

Here is what I learned in that small, quiet place, friends. The person who makes the scene almost never wins the argument. The one who stays calm does. When the room is shouting, the quiet woman is the one everybody turns to look at. And when the story gets told later, it's her version they remember.

So this week, when someone pushes you, and they will, I want you to try something. Don't raise your voice. Lower it. Smile. Say less than you could. And watch what happens to the room.

That's not weakness, sweet friend. That's the ornament. And it is of great price.

Let's pray.

Father, give us the hidden heart. When we want to shout, make us still. When others lose their temper, let us keep ours, so that Your peace is the loudest thing in the room. In Jesus' name, amen.

I'm Rebecca. This has been Midnight Bread. Go be somebody's blessing today.