Languages of the World

We just finished our discussion on “Christian Speech” on Wednesday nights.  Dennis led our discussion and talked about how important our words are and equally as important, if not more, is our ability to listen.  In other words, the way we communicate is important and Christians are the means to bring God’s message to the world.

 Another idea that we could have discussed more is the Christian’s skill to learn and discern the languages of the world.  For example, I looked up “Yankee” on the internet because of my encounters with them and was curious as to how it was defined.  On one of the web site, this is what I found:

 To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast

 I know this is far fetched, but to someone, I might be considered to be a “Yankee.”  Why is this important?  If I am having a serious and important conversation with an individual, I don’t want this perception to sidetrack me from addressing a bigger concern.

 When I first moved to Connecticut, and encountered a few Yankees and came to the conclusion that Yankees were rude, crude, arrogant, and loud.  In the culture that I was brought up in, this behavior was totally unacceptable.  How did I learn to understand and discern the language of a Yankee?  I married one.