dialects

“Where did that come from? Man, what is my problem?” We were gathered around the family dinner table, and my mom was at a loss to explain where her very southern pronunciation of a particular word had come from. She rarely talks that way, but every once in a while, she admits, a word will proceed in raw form from her mouth that is most definitely accented in the way that Midwesterners don’t talk! She’ll always explain it something like this: “I know I’ve got Tennessee blood in me, so that’s probably where it comes from. I’m going back to my roots! Sometimes I say things so briar!” And every time it gets us laughing.

Last week I made a trek down to Beavercreek, Ohio, with my brother Lance so we could spend a few days with my maternal grandparents, Larry and Virginia Wright. We had an enjoyable time with Grandpa during the day, as Grandma was busy selling items at a garage sale with my aunt in Fairborn. Lance and I joined Grandpa in what he does best: athletics and humor. Much laughter accompanied us as we played three major pitching games: corn hole, horseshoes, and hillbilly (ladder) golf. In the midst of our conversations, I noticed that my ears were a bit more attuned to the way that my “down home” grandpa talks (he was born in Kentucky and grew up in Tennessee). I heard the common “We need to worsh our hands” and another one of my favorites: “What happened wall-a-go?” Grandpa also used his signature “Let me see that once” or “Come over here once”. I wouldn’t want him to talk any other way because that’s him.

There’s a lot to these things we call dialects, which are basically the ways of talking that are native to a certain region of a country or people group. In America, we know that New Yorkers can ask you for a “quah-tah” while it would be most logical to “pahk your cah near the hahbah” in Boston. Then there’s the aforementioned southern accent, which can be distinguished from the dialect of Midwesterners, which is “normal” (yeah right!). Since living in Moscow, I’ve learned that Muscovites pronounce many of their unstressed “o’s” as “a’s”, which is distinct from the rest of the country (e.g., a Muscovite would say “spaceeba” instead of “spaceebo” to say “thank you”). The point is, each of us has a dialect that is determined mostly by where we live and who we’re around, and to anyone who’s listening it can be a very quick indicator of where we’re from.

All this dialectic thought got me thinking on a deeper level about my “spiritual dialect”, so to speak. Those of us who have surrendered our lives to the lordship of Jesus Christ are citizens of His kingdom, the Kingdom of God. And that kingdom is not “out there”, something that we will realize just upon death. It’s 100% here, right now. Not only did Jesus say, “The kingdom of God is near you”, but He also said, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 10:9, 17:21). That means that our citizenship in God’s kingdom is very real, and in many ways more real than what we can see and touch. Just as citizens of any geographical area can be identified by their dialect, so should citizens of Christ’s kingdom be distinguishable by their manner of speaking. Followers of Christ should be “easy to spot” by the words they choose to use. Do the words that proceed from our mouths indicate an eternal frame of reference? Do our topics of conversations include more than just the superficial ideas of the day? Are our words used more to edify than to criticize? Can people tell from our speech that our love for Jesus is more than just lip-service? From our speech, can people even tell that we love Jesus? Does our non-verbal communication (such as a contented countenance or genuine smile) speak of a committed walk with God? Is our speech devoid of obscenity, foolish talk, and course joking and filled instead with thanksgiving (Ephesians 5:4)? Is our tongue quicker to build someone up behind their back than to spread a rumor of juicy gossip? Do we ask others questions to find out truth about them, rather than to just seek answers for ourselves? Can friends, neighbors, and strangers sense that we sincerely care about and value them by the words we exchange with them?

I’m beginning to think that our spiritual accent should be much “thicker” than our geographical accent. Why would I say this? Because a geographical dialect is determined by mostly outside factors: genetics (that were determined by our parents and other ancestors), geographical environment, and the people with whom we converse the most. For the vast majority of people, the factors of birth, home location and environment, and family are outside of them and beyond their control. This is in contrast to a spiritual dialect, which is the result of a change from within us. In many ways a spiritual dialect is much more personal. I know for a fact that thoughts, feelings, emotions, and attitudes formed within me always have much more effect on what I do and say than do factors outside of me because I’m acting from who I am, not from what I’m around. (This is not to say that our decisions and words are never affected by outside factors and pressures. I am merely saying that most decisions and words flow from the inside rather than from the outside.) Here’s the bottom line: If indeed our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19), then it follows that His truths, thoughts, ideas, motives, and exhortations should flow from our mouth.

It has been said that actions speak louder than words. I agree…somewhat. Perhaps we should add a phrase to that well known adage. “Actions speak louder than words, but words reveal the heart.” In Luke 6:45 Jesus said, “For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” When we understand the truth that words reveal a person’s heart, we might begin to not only listen a bit more intently to others, but we might begin to listen a bit more intently to the words that pass through our own lips. Do our words reveal Jesus’ heart within us? Can it be said of us that “from the LORD comes the reply of the tongue” (Proverbs 16:1)?

Is it any wonder that David prayed for God to connect his heart and words in holy harmony? “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14). May each of us give careful thought and prayer to the issues of our heart, that our speech might reflect the thoughts of God. Just as our geographical dialect flows naturally from our mouth without effort and concentration, may our speech flow naturally from a heart that is aligned closely with God’s.