Speak, So They Can Understand

“Now you’re speaking my language.”

Isn’t it wonderful when you are talking with someone and you feel understood? It’s interesting to me that conversations can be so easy with some people and so hard with others. Am I right?

I get that it may be difficult to communicate when you’re in a high school French 2 class and the teacher insists that no one uses English. You know you barely made it through French 1, so basically you’re in for the longest year of your life. (And yes, I am speaking from a very painful place in my youth. My stomach knots up just typing out those words.)

But, it becomes really painful when you should be able to hear and be heard, yet it just feels like there is a wall blocking the comprehension. Say, you are both speaking the same language, but it feels like neither one of you can understand what the other one is trying to say. How do we overcome that? Because, we all face this. It may be a mother and a daughter, a father and a son, a Boomer and Gen Xer, or a Democrat or Republican. Or maybe it’s a Catholic and a non-believer.

I’ll bet it’s you and someone you love.

In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit comes upon the Apostles and they begin to speak in “other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” The people dwelling in Jerusalem at that time were from many different places and spoke a multitude of languages, yet these men from Galilee were suddenly speaking in a way that each of these people from different nations could hear and understand. They were amazed!

“And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. And they were amazed and wondered, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?” Acts 2:6-8

I love how God didn’t wait for them to become fluent in His Word. He spoke theirs. He met them where they were and gave them Truth. He didn’t water it down, but He spoke through the Apostles in a way that let those listening know that He knew them and they were important. Don’t underestimate what that means.

He didn’t just do this at Pentecost with all these languages. He literally came down from Heaven and became man. He didn’t stay removed and distant, but met us down here in the messiness of human life. And what a gift it is to know that our God became one of us, right? To know that when we speak to Him about our pains, fears, and doubts, He gets it. He understands what we are saying.

So, if our God can take fishermen and make them multilingual with the gift of the Holy Spirit, what can He do with us? What does He want to do with us?

I think He wants us to see in His example of meeting us where we are that we have to do the same. We have to get messy. Are you surrounded by people who just seem to be speaking a different language? Is it hard to understand where someone is coming from. Maybe we should ask the Holy Spirit to help us better communicate with them. Can we share Truth in a way that makes them feel heard and important or are we too quick to speak only in our native tongue with all the phrases that make it difficult for others to hear our message?

They say the best way to learn a language is to be immersed. That’s uncomfortable and hard. But, to be fully present in the life of a person from “some place different” means that I don’t just learn how they speak, but I learn more about where they come from and what makes them who they are. And when I know that, my words can have more power, because my heart will be guiding my thoughts and actions out of a place of connection and unity.

So, come Holy Spirit and help me to learn how to speak. May I find ways to better understand those who seem to be from a different place and may my words fall on their ears in a way that brings truth that can be understood and accepted. May I never speak without discerning first, if what I have to say will fall on fertile ground. May my words never cause weeds and thorns to come up and choke out the fruit that could have been borne.

XOXO,

Barb