A New Language

It is hard work to learn a new language.

It still remember when, at the age of eighteen, I landed in Guatemala City and disembarked from my plane to do six months of voluntary service work.  Looking at the signs and hearing people chattering away in an unfamiliar tongue was disconcerting.

I knew almost no Spanish at all.  I could ask people how they were, what was their name, or where the bathroom was, but odds were I would have absolutely no idea what they told me in response.  I had a Spanish-English Dictionary and a desire to learn.

I eventually did learn Spanish -- at least enough that I can get around pretty well in Central America.  I found in that time, that it takes a lot of practice to learn a new language.  In the beginning, you have to translate everything in your head into your native language and the reverse when you are speaking.  It is so easy to get lost two sentences into a conversation, because you are stuck on a word back somewhere in the first sentence.

Eventually, you stop translating and just start speaking the new language.  You think in it.  You even dream in it.

It seems to me, that Jesus came to earth to teach us a new language.

Prior to His ministry, the rule was an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.  Jesus came to teach us to love our enemies.

The language of love, as Jesus taught it, is a tough language to learn.  It involves seeing people in need and reaching out to them.  It involves giving until it hurts and then, giving some more until it stops hurting.

In the beginning, when we are learning the language of love, we have to translate everything into this language.  For me, it means asking the question, "How can I show love to this patient I'm seeing?"  The answer often translates into more time spent and more listening.

I can't say I'm very good at speaking this language.  I fall back all too easily into my old, self-centered behaviors, but with practice, it will come.

Jesus said:  "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

It is hard work to learn another language, but anyone can do it, if they will only practice.