The Language of the Heart

I'm convinced that there's no feeling in the world like the one that comes from successfully conversing in another language. It's like feeling that you can conquer the world. You've overcome (or very nearly) what previously threatened to undo you, and with that victory the world seems to know no limits. You can soar, you can grow and glow and... thrive. Worlds open up to you, because you can delve into the lives of others, and open their eyes up to yours. You can communicate. Oh the millions of ways we take this gift of communication for granted! There's a reason it's the number one looked-for skill by employers, the number one struggle between most couples, and the number one way God chose to frustrate the prideful plans of man in the tower of Babel. We were made in the image of a God who loves to love us, and loves to build relationships with us. Without communication, this is pretty tricky. To learn a new language is to open up previously bolted doors to engaging entire communities in the language of the heart. For me, the process of learning a language is ridiculously difficult, but I get unspeakably excited with each new word I learn, and with each step of progress that first brought only tears and frustration. Sweet victory, word by word.

And although I am constantly making progress (praise God!), there are many times when my short vocabulary simply does not suffice. I walked into a tiny church on Sunday morning; a house church of only thirteen members. As I left, I thanked the pastor's wife for talking to me, because it's easy for people to get frustrated trying to talk to me and quit. She told me that she was trying to learn Korean, and that here, it didn't matter how well I spoke, because you don't always need words to communicate. This has been especially true of kids and of my host family, and it's a privilege to be able to communicate with them sometimes without ever opening my mouth.