Fully Fluent 🗣👂

Hola 👋

You may have observed over the years, that the world is a whole lot more global these days.

As the world gets a little smaller, have you noticed how common it is for people to be able to speak more than one language?  In many cultures around the world, this is quite the norm, in fact, even right here in Jamaica... for the most part, we arguably and naturally pick up our native Jamaican Patois in addition to the school-taught English... with many Jamaicans mastering both and perfecting the code-switching artistry.

There are indeed different degrees to which one can master a language.  In our own context here at home, many fall prey to the elusive nature of the Queen's English while others fail to lay a firm grasp on the Jamaican Patois.

Whether the language is English, Spanish or a local dialect, some practitioners are only able to attain a basic level of fluency.  They are able to identify a few words and string a couple sentences together ("Where is the bathroom?" 🤷‍♂️). Others are a little more advanced and ascend to a conversational level where they are able to engage in active conversation and successful communication albeit somewhat high-level.  Then, there are those who achieve true mastery, where they absorb and emit more than just mere words and sentences but complex constructs and idioms and cultural idiosyncrasies.

To have such a firm grasp of a language, requires more than being able to speak the language fluently, but one has to also be able to listen the language fluently as well.

Accurately hearing and interpreting a language is absolutely critical to being able to successfully communicate in it.  Your ears have to be properly trained and tuned to the different contexts and inflexions.

If you want to determine whether there's a language that you think you're particularly good at, just try switching your Netflix's audio, or TV Channel or whatever it is you're listening to, to that language and see what happens.  If you are able to hear and fully understand what's really going on... then you know that you're truly fluent.

...but here's the kicker: Did you know that this is the same in our relationship with God?

We may THNK that we speak fluent "God", that our prayers are always on point... but the truth is that oftentimes, our ears aren't yet fully trained (if trained at all).

We've picked up a few words here and there sure, but there is so much nuance that is lost in our conversation with God... especially given our human tendency to want to bubble everything down to a bite-size piece that we can grab and consume on the go.

We must not only train our mouths and hearts to speak words to God, but we MUST also train our ears and hearts to listen to Him.

Training requires spending time hearing and listening to what the native tongue sounds like.  For us we have to get patiently comfortable with the voice of God... what it sounds like... what it would and would not say... the vocabulary He uses and how His language works.

Mastering this leads to the avoidance of mistakes and misunderstandings, which is what often happens.  Many-a-time, persons end up surprised at some outcome that they were convinced they "heard God" on... only to discover that their interpretation was way off or that the voice wasn't even God's voice at all.

Let us then get back to careful, mindful training.  Let's get schooled in sharpening those spiritual communication skills, so that whenever we go before God to have a conversation, we'll be Fully Fluent.