Our 9-pounds-with-a-90-pound-attitude cat, Dusty, came home from the vet on Tuesday, sporting a bright green splint.
She is miserable.
And mad.
At me.
For “doing this to her.”
Oh, how I wish she could speak my language!
I want to explain to her what happened: she dislocated a bone.
Why I did what I did: allowed the vet to anesthetize, Xray, and cast her so she’ll heal.
Why I’m doing what I’m doing: keeping her confined to the laundry room.
But she doesn’t speak my language. So I’m speaking hers: Holding her. Petting her.
She understands holding and petting. If only she understood more!
Baby Talk
When a baby is learning to talk, how much “grown-up language” does she understand? Not much.
How much “baby talk” do her parents understand? A whole lot!
In Annemarie’s baby book, I recorded hundreds of “translations” from her “baby talk” to “grown-up language.”
“Gaggie” meant “blankie.”
“Gunk” meant “milk.”
Oh, I spoke her language well!
Grown-Up Language
Annemarie just turned 21. She hasn’t used words like “gaggie” or “gunk” for years. In fact, I’m constantly giving her props for using wonderful words in everyday conversation.
Why am I daily thrilled by her extensive vocabulary?
True, as her verbal skills expanded, Annemarie expressed herself more precisely. But I didn’t need her to speak my language in order to understand her.
When she was little, it was Annemarie who needed to learn my language so she could understand me.
I had so much I wanted to tell her about myself! So much I knew she would understand better if only she could speak my language!
“Grown-up language” allows breadth, depth, and nuance impossible with baby talk.
Learning His Word
When first I saw Deb Roy’s TED talk The Birth of a Word, I was deeply moved by the precious one-minute “time lapse audio” segment of a child learning his first word.
Each time I’ve played this segment at a women’s retreat, the audience reacts the same way during the clip: listening in rapt attention, leaning forward as if to coax the child along somehow, smiling at each other as “baby talk” gives way to “grown up language.”
And responses at the end are always the same: We burst out in spontaneous applause and celebration! Yes, he nailed it!
Is this is how God sees me as I am learning His Word?
Listening, leaning forward, cheering as I “nail it”?
God allows nothing – not even my failure to grow up and leave baby talk behind – stand in the way of His love to me.
He's always stooped to speak my language, my “baby talk.”
But limited by baby talk, I’ve misunderstand Him much of my life.
I’ve been miserable and mad, blaming Him for “doing this to me.”
While He was longing to tell me all about Himself!
About what’s happened.
Why He’s done what He’s done.
Why He’s doing what He’s doing.
Always, He's held me and comforted me, wishing “If only she understood more!”
Fluent in God’s Word
When I was a child, I memorized scripture for two reasons: recognition and prizes. Oh, how I loved my rows of gold stickers! And my Oriental Trading Company “Jesus junk”!
When I got older, nobody offered me gold stickers. My motivation gone, I stuck with “baby talk”: My thoughts. My feelings. My perceptions. My way. Oh, My. Me. My!
But now that I’m immersing myself in God’s Word as the way out of my self, I’m discovering that it’s the vocabulary for His “grown up” language!
The more I nail it, the less constrained we are by mere “baby talk”!
The more I learn His word, the more He reveals Himself, and the better I understand Him!
The more I conversational I become in His Word, the less miserable and mad I am.
The better I’m understanding what’s happened.
Why He’s done what He’s done.
Why He’s doing what He’s doing.
And the more I’m experiencing the breadth, depth, and nuance of his limitless love!
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Kathi Lipp is a full-time speaker and writer as well as being the parent of four young adults with her husband, Roger in San Jose, CA. When she is not doing laundry, she is speaking at retreats, conferences and women's events across the US. Find out more about Kathi, and get some great freebies, at her website& on Facebook
Ironically, I’ve been feeling insecure about today’s word.
Trying to think of what to say about a word regarding which I know so little, I headed to one of my favorite books: the thesaurus.
Some synonyms for “Confident” are PURSE-onality qualities I want to avoid:
Audacious
Brazen
Presumptuous
Pushy
Self-assured
Other synonyms invite exploration.
Courageous
In her TED talk “The Power of Vulnerability,” Brene Brown cites the original meaning of courage as “telling the story of who you are with your whole heart.”
I like that.
As a vicarious learner, I am richly blessed by Christians who risk vulnerability to tell the stories of what Christ has done, and is doing, in their lives.
Best of all is hearing one of my students sharing her testimony. Although her voice may be shaking, and her volume barely above a whisper, her open heart speaks with courageous power.
Hopeful
The move from expectations to hope is one of the great works God is doing in my life.
Does it take everyone decades of disappointment before they finally decide to pack up and leave expectations behind?
Or am I just an especially stubborn case? (Don't answer that!)
I’m just now learning to quit meddling. To take a "Mind My Own Business Challenge" (any takers?!?) and stop forcing my expectations onto everyone within reach. To sit, instead, in silence, prayer, and hope.
Satisfied
A life-long perfectionist, I’ve spent four decades striving for, but never reaching, satisfaction.
“If only ____ would _____, then I would...”
“Just one more _____ and I could...”
“When I finally ____, I will...”
Enough!
I’ve had enough of this entitled, insatiable, scarcity thinking!
Enough.
I’m finding that when I look for the good in my life, I have enough. I am more than satisfied.
Sure
When I became a teenager, my father told me, “If you ever need me to come get you, just call. I will come. You don’t have to explain. Just call. I will come. Or I will pay whatever the cost to get you home.”
I only called once.
He appeared within moments (it seemed!)
I knew, for sure, that he would come. Any time.
Self-Confident?
Being confident means that we have ...
… courage that Christ is working in our hearts.
… hope in God’s perfect plans for our lives.
… satisfaction with God’s blessings.
… assurance that we can “just call” our Father. Any time.
And others who are desperately seeking courage seeking hope seeking satisfaction seeking assurance
will see our Christ-confidence and be drawn to its Source.
Try this today: Pray that your heart will be opened to one specific situation requiring courage, hope, satisfaction, and/or assurance. Once identified, ask, "What would Christ-confidence look like in this situation?" Then, as the Holy Spirit leads, follow!
