Growing in Understanding

Don’t you love when little children are learning the language that is spoken in the home they live in, and it comes out “different.” Different to the true, correct pronunciation due to the speaker saying it too fast or the child not yet being able to say certain sounds.

If you look at a baby, they are always watching the face of the person speaking to them – watching the mouth, the eyes, hearing the inflection in the voice. They try to repeat what they see and hear.

I remember my daughter could not say her brother Joel’s name correctly and would call him “doll.”  She loved sultanas and as a treat would get them in a little box to eat for morning tea and she would abbreviate them to “tana.”

My mum reminded me that I would get two words back to front, even as I got older. Wash facers instead of face washers and hang coaters instead of coat hangers.

Do you have memories that bring a smile to your face on wrong pronunciation of words from yourself or your children?

I often feel that God must laugh at us sometimes, a really big chuckle, at things we say and do. Maybe they are not wrong pronunciation of words but incorrect interpretations of situations. So incorrect that we sometimes get to worrying about them so badly that we make ourselves unwell.

Just today a friend phoned me to tell me that God must be laughing at her being so worried. She has been trying to get a respite house up to compliance with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and the Shire she lives in. Her heart is so huge and loving and focused on caring for people and she feels that God wants her to make this house a place where carers can have a break/a respite from caring for a family member for a day, a few days, a week.

She has been hitting her head against a brick wall of documentation and trying to tick the boxes of compliance with the City Shire where this house is. It has been stressing her out, keeping her awake at night worrying about how she can get it right in compliance.

Then today she found out they are just guidelines not necessarily “have to”. Her worry disappeared. She had asked God to help her and just today someone from NDIS explained what she “had” to do and what she “could” do if she wished.

So too when we read scripture. If we are not careful, we can interpret the words, the story incorrectly and get the wrong meaning from it. Some of the meanings of the Greek or Hebrew words used in Jesus’ day are different to today’s understanding and need to be interpreted accordingly. Some of the stories and parables used were appropriate to Jesus’ day but if written today different examples would be used. It is good to read a commentary alongside reading the Bible so we can understand the scriptures correctly.

I often feel like a baby, still learning to “hear” and “understand” the voice of God in the scriptures, in my life, in my prayer time. I’m learning to discern His Voice, Him speaking to me and to understand what it means to me in my life right now.

I want to be open to continue to learn and understand the mind and heart of God. Spending time with Him helps me in this. Getting to know His ways, His thoughts, His heart. For God wants all of us to move from the baby stage of being a Christian to a more mature understanding.

May these jottings from my journal inspire you to believe in and fall in love with Christ- the hope of the world, as stated in Jeremiah 17:7, ‘Blessed is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the Lord and whose hope and confident expectation is the Lord!’

Love

Rosemary

Every week groups of ladies meet together to chat about the things I raise in my weekly blog post and to chat about life in general. We call these ‘Heart Connect’ groups.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

What funny stories do you have of words you or your children used to say incorrectly?

How about situations? Have you interpreted situations incorrectly or God’s word incorrectly?

What have you learnt about the heart and mind of God lately?