Weekly Encouragement

Did I Really Say That?

By: Hannah S. Hunter

Proverbs 18:2(Passion) “Senseless people find no pleasure in acquiring true wisdom,

for all they want to do is impress you with what they know.”

Humor is a needed portion of living in a different culture with many different languages. Throw in having passed middle age somewhere back there and approaching golden years. The road signs are harder to read without magnification and bright noon day sun.

Kiswahili is the official language of Kenya. With forty plus tribes it ups the ante because each tribe has their own language. The further you go from cities and the older the person you encounter they may only know their tribal language.

The British occupied and instituted much of the formal education here. Their fingerprints are all over this land. Even the spelling and pronunciation makes me keenly aware I am not in Kansas anymore. The phones autocorrect you with the British spelling of words. That is a challenge as I am educating my three grandchildren during this virus business. Do I support the British way or do it the American way? The grands will visit USA and may never step foot in England except to make a connecting flight.

I get a bit prickly when people tell me I talk funny with an accent when I am speaking perfect American. Sometimes the interpreters fight not to be assigned to me because the American speaks funny. As a speaker and writer that takes humor to absorb.

Speaking a new language at a less than kindergarten level is quite humbling. My three-year- old grandson just looks at me lovingly but blankly. My prophetic six-year-old granddaughter is quick to correct my faltering attempts. My eight-year-old granddaughter is forbearing and without missing a beat corrects me gently. She speaks four languages.

More and more we are settling into an easy routine of understanding, if not the language the inference and gestures. My three-year-old grandson has mastered some things even the adults are not proficient in.

What pulls us together is our love, desire to do life together, understand the culture of one another, and what makes each person tick. It takes a measure of grace and a keen effort to keep at it until we understand even a look and body language.

 Grief is what I feel as I watch us, even the body of Christ, attempt to navigate through our own opinions, beliefs, political affiliations, and skin colors. We throw down every boundary of civility, honor, and respect of each other. Families are being divided and the fabric of our society is tearing off the seam such that it will take only GOD to heal and restore us.

Silence is a subject I wrote about and taught from the pulpit. Yet we let the enemy goad us into rising up in righteous indignation, or so we think, and pulverize each other with our mouths. Suddenly many are experts in fields they have no training or experience. Money seems to be the loudest voice and touts itself as the end of all, supreme ruler, and expert in every area of our lives including if we can breathe free air or breath through a mask.

On God’s calendar the new year is approaching. In the globe the seasons are changing as the earth is tilting toward the sun or away from the sun depending on your geographical location. Seasons are meant for us to pause, rotate or change our wardrobe. Unpack or store away equipment we use in our homes or in our outdoor. Decoration may even be changed to reflect a holiday or season we are anticipating and entering. Change is the optimum word!

My supplication is that we step back and see the demise to everything we held dear and took for granted. We are too busy foisting what we are sure is etched in stone on each other and wounding them in the process. The enemy is gleeful and letting us do his dirty work.

Wake up children of the most- high GOD. Shut your mouth. Refocus and stare intently into the eyes of the One who saved you until you see what is there, and how He sees your fellow man. When you are saturated with Him and His words then open your mouth and let living water come out and water those around you. Shalom and be blessed from the secret place.