Life Interpreted

We heard a language we did not understand.

Psalm 81:5

Germany. Now it sounds so far away but I called that country home my fourth year of life. To immerse me in the culture and language, my mother enrolled me in all German-speaking preschool. I spent months there telling elaborate stories in English. It never occurred to me that the children in Germany did not speak my language. 


I needed an interpreter.


Marriage. It sounds so familiar and easy. Since the first couple, humans have been freely entering into marriage. I dreamed of becoming a wife from the time I was a little girl and eagerly greeted the day I first engaged in marriage. I have spent years hearing my spouse express needs that I simply can't understand. We do not speak the same language.


I need an interpreter.


Parenting. Now that's something that should come natural. My children were born from within me. Surely four little female beings who bear my DNA will speak my language. The longer I parent, the more I realize I can never understand the depths of my daughter's hearts. 


I need an interpreter.


Are you like me? Do you sometimes wish you could just hit the "translate" button in life and gain the understanding you desire? Do you long to connect with your friends and loved ones at a deeper level? We need an interpreter. We cannot on our own understand the words and actions of others.


Our interpreter is grace. 


Angry words filtered through grace lose their sting.
Tides of emotion sifted by grace land on peaceful shores.
Unmet needs shaded by grace come to light.


Today I will not listen alone. Instead I will invite Grace to hear with me words expressed and withheld. I will ask Him to see with me actions understood and mysterious. He will be my interpreter. He sees what is blind to my eye and hears what is deaf to my ear. Life Interpreted.