My calendar tells me that today, September 23, is the International Day of Sign Languages.  This wouldn’t have caught my eye, except that I have been taken classes in American Sign Language.  My new neighbor is deaf. If I want to communicate with her, I need to speak her language.

I’m reminded that misunderstandings between people often occur when we don’t speak each other’s language.  I’m referring here to two English speaking individuals; we might assume that because we speak the same “language” there’s no problem.  But is there?

Do I communicate clearly with my teenage grandkids?  Well, not always.  They toss in words that are foreign to me, that send me to Google.   And I’m sure my choice of words is sometimes just as foreign to them.

How about serious conversations with members of our own generation.  Oh, the words are familiar, but do we all attach the same meaning to that word?   One word may have a very positive connotation to one of us, while the other sees it in a negative light. 

There are two sides to language:  speaking and listening.  If we truly want to communicate, we need to improve our listening.  We can’t assume we understand, just because we’ve used the same word.  As the saying goes, we have two ears and one mouth, so we can spend more time listening than speaking.

“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.”  James 1:19

Our God of unconditional love listens patiently to us, will we listen as patiently to each other?

Judy