Mother tongue

Way back in the last millennium, 1995 to be exact, I had the opportunity to go to Mexico for a month with the business and Spanish departments at my university. I had actually already graduated in May and this trip was scheduled for July. I signed up even though I did not need the credits.

Being immersed in the culture and language was an experience. By the third day I was dreaming in Spanish. As a non-traditional student, (I was 35) I had more courage than the younger students in their 20’s, and was always asked to go along when they went shopping so I could dicker with the vendors on their behalf.

It was fun trying to come up with the word I wanted to use, and found ways around it that delighted the people who lived there. For example, we were in a beautiful cathedral and I wanted to say how beautiful it was for being so old. Instead I came up with “the building was full of age.”

We were based in Puebla, but went to Oaxaca, Cancun, and Mexico City. Mostly traveling by bus. It was quite the adventure. And it really helped me become more fluent in the language. Which now helps me in my business as I have Spanish speaking clients. They appreciate that I make an effort even if I don’t get my tenses right, or miss a word.

The weirdest part was when my plane landed in Denver. When I got off the plane I had to stop and be amazed. I could understand what people around me were saying without having to try and convert it in my brain. These people were speaking my mother tongue! It was so good to be home!

So when I saw this in Romans 6 (MSG) I got excited.

“Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word.”

As future citizens of heaven, that is our mother tongue. The Word of God is our true language. That is why I want us to be immersed in it, just like when I immersed myself in Spanish while in Mexico. I want us to know how to speak it into our lives and the lives of those around us, so we can stop, know, and understand what God is saying to us without have to convert it in our brains.

We recently watched an episode of Roadkill , a Motor Trend show where they take junk cars and try to get them to run to take cross country trips etc. In this episode, they started up a car and it sounded deep and throaty, a true muscle car sound. One of the guys said, “Ooooo, that is the language of my people.” I just loved that comment and am going to apply it to this post.

The Word of God is the language of my people. It is my mother tongue and I am fluent in it.

Well…I’m working the the fluent part.