The Frequency of the Heart

- "Lo siento, no hablo inglés..."

- "No hay problema, ¡yo hablo español!"

If there is one thing we do not have to worry about with Jesus is the language barrier...because there simply isn´t one.  He speaks to us in our own language.  And by the same token, He enables us to hear Him because He delivers His messages in a way that we can understand.  He talks to us in a way that cuts through the noise and the competing frequencies that threaten  the message to be diluted...in a way that cuts to the heart.  

 I have spent about 22 years of my life trying to communicate to my Spanish students that there is a deep and powerful connection between a person's native language and their heart, their emotions.  My goal is to create in my students a desire to learn Spanish so, when they are out there, in the "real world," working with the public...a public, which is increasingly more diverse each and every day...and they run into a Spanish-speaking person who they want to reach to sale a product, an idea, a service, a perspective, a cause, etc. they can make a connection at an emotional level which will help them be more successful in their attempts.  

Most students don't get it.  They don't really care.  They just want to get through the class with a passing grade and forget the whole thing about Spanish.  But, once in a while, there is one who understands it.  The reason this student gets it is because he or she had been in a situation where the roles were reversed, and this student had experienced what it feels like to be in a place where the majority of the people speak a language other than English.  These are the students who volunteer a brief narrative where they timidly comment how amazing it felt when, in the middle of a confusing moment, where everyone else around them was speaking this other language that they couldn't understand...they heard a sentence in English! 

It's like the mind just opens up, and the light of comprehension floods through your senses, you feel warm inside, and you want to burst in tearful Hallelujahs because you understand!

In a small measure, that must have been what it felt like when the Holy Spirit entered the place where they were all gathered together during Pentecost, and the flames of God came unto them, filling them with The Holy Spirit and enabling them to speak in tongues and in every one of the languages of each of the persons present there at that time.  No matter how remote a corner of the known world they had come from, the people present on that day were able to hear the message in their own native language, and the result was amazement, elation, jubilation and mass conversion.

The way I see it, God knows about that connection between native language and emotions.  Of course He does, He designed it!  He is the Master Communicator.  He knows how to speak to us in a way we can comprehend it...and He knows, even when we are fluent in more than one earthly language, there is nothing like receiving His message in the tongue we consider our first and most dominant one...the mother-tongue.  Millions of people in this country speak a language other than English at home.  And that is the language of the heart.  They might communicate in English with the outside world, but when someone speaks the mother-tongue to them, the heart begins to listen in a more profound and impactful way than they hear when they are only listening with their ears.  

That's why the Holy Spirit made it so everyone present at that glorious Pentecost Day described in Acts 2 would hear Peter's message in their mother-tongue...because that was the most sure way to reach the frequency of the heart.  That was the only way He knew the words would "cut to the heart."  That was the only way He knew, the message of salvation would not be diluted or lost in translation.

The Holy Spirit allows us to receive God's message regardless of the source...regardless of the language...in a way that is customized to us.  And that is the gift that transforms us.

I hope my students ever care enough to accept the reality of the power of speaking to others in a way they can understand.  Sometimes the message is way too important for it to be lost in translation.

“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

Acts 2: 36-39