Yes. Si. Oui.

Posted on May 16, 2007
Filed Under Uncategorized, Spirituality, Life, Love, Responsibility, Trusting God, Fulfillment |

That’s what my husband answered to the French waitress when she asked him a question . . . Yes. Si. Oui. It, needless to say, was funny - and I totally understood his language confusion. As we have, together and individually, navigated this beautiful, artful, and old foreign land of Paris, we have stumbled our way through communication in a variety of situations. Eating for example - just how do you say do you have an available table? Purchasing clothes - yeah, where are the dressing rooms? Riding the Metro - where the heck is Monmarte? These few days have required patience, humility, and a great sense of humor.

Having been educated in Spanish, Marc and I tend to revert to it when not speaking English. It makes sense, right? If I’m not saying “hello,” I’m saying “hola” . . . not Bon Jour. Good Lord. I have to be so, well, on purpose and conscious in what I’m saying, how I’m behaving, and what I’m trying to communicate.

There’s a lesson here. I just know it. There is an intentionality with which I have found myself operating. I’m trying to communicate: my desires, my wants, my goals, my intentions. And, I’m doing it purposefully, carefully, and, again, humbly.

If, as a disciple of Christ, my intention to communicate His primary aim - love - then I guess I should approach that goal the same way. Purposefully, carefully, and humbly. Love, I’m learning even now in a deeper sense, is communicated in an innumerable amount of ways . . . often outside of the boundaries of my “everyday” language and formal “education.” It’s easy to express love to Marc and the boys - I, after all these wonderful years of learning how, can do that sleepwalking now. But what about the old woman begging with her head hanging low in shame at the steps of Sacre Coeur? Can I, abandon my hurried American schedule and give her my time, my bended knee toward her hands, and my Euroes that are easier for me to come by than they are for her given that she has no legs? Life, when lived on purpose, invites us to step outside of our comfort zone and into the zone of Jesus Christ on occassion. That’s love.

Yes. Si. Oui.

Let’s have a lesson in communication, oui? What are you saying with your life, your language, your habits, your relationships? Heck, what am I communicating? I know. Ouch. I want to communicate God. His love, His compassion, His mercy, and His grace, which knows no bounds, no nationality, no “religion”, and no ethnicity. That’s how I want to be known and recognized, not as the American with the funny accent who doesn’t know how to order a glass of red wine. De Accord?

1 Corinthians 8:3
But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes.

Peace and blessings,

Nicole Walters