What Do You Mean?
There was a movie some years ago with a memorable title. I don’t recall watching the movie, but its title, Lost in Translation, has remained in my mind. Language is intriguing and frustrating. It’s so intrinsic that it can be taken for granted until it begins to break down.
My daughter has recently doubled down on her love for baking. She’s into sour dough bread and making her own starter. I think she’s named it! I’m not so much into baking but I do like cooking a slab of bacon occasionally. The other day I went into the kitchen to cook bacon, but I couldn’t find my grill. I don’t know the actual name of the grill, but in my opinion, grill is spot on. I kept asking my daughter where the grill had run off to and she kept staring at me with a sense of bewilderment. She had no clue what the grill was or its whereabouts.
After rummaging through the usual cabinets, I considered it plausible that the grill may have settled in the dining room. Empty cookware usually returns from the dining room, not the other way around. As I crossed the threshold between preparation and consumption, there rested my grill. “Evelyn, the grill is right here on the table,” I proclaimed in a blend of excitement and frustration. Her retort, “I knew the location of the cooling rack, but I don’t know anything about your grill.”
Talk about lost in translation. You guessed it! Evelyn knew where the grill was located, but she had no clue that I was referring to the cooling rack as a grill. Language completely breaks down when things get lost in translation. It can be comical when two people discover a misapplied word, but some communication breakdowns hurt. There are times when our inner thoughts are so difficult to process, it’s a real challenge to communicate them to another person. Perhaps you’ve tried to express something in the past and it was misunderstood or misapplied. Those moments can put tension in any relationship.
Effective communication is worth it. Being known and understood by those closest to us is a fundamental human desire. We weren’t created for isolation, though relational depth doesn’t come naturally. Good communication is vital in any relationship even though it can be vulnerable. Twenty years into a relationship with Bethany, and I still find myself learning how to articulate my inner thoughts. Sometimes there is tension, but tension is necessary for forward motion.
No human relationship can replace our relationship with God. Even a lifelong marriage or friendship will have misunderstandings. But we can rest knowing that God never misunderstands us. Isn’t it incredible to consider that God knows us far more than we know ourselves? God doesn’t just love us; He knows us and loves us! We are never misunderstood by our God.
And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:27
God knows us, God loves us, and His Spirit advocates for us. There is nothing hidden from the Father and in Christ we are fully known. What a peaceful thought to know that our most valuable relationship is free from misunderstanding. We are known by the Father and He invites us to come into His presence in boldness and freedom. He understands us even in our unspoken groaning.