Is love a language?
“No habla español” has quickly become one of my most used phrases while living here in Costa Rica. It translates to, “I don’t speak Spanish.” And it’s a phrase that when I first started to use held a certain kind of uncomfortableness.
I crave deep conversations, so being in a country where the only “conversations” I can have with the people here without a translator are about the weather or asking what their favorite color is can quickly become frustrating and discouraging.
How can I love people silently, while still being loud?
On our first day of ministry here, I met a girl named Priscilla (I’ve written about her before in my “Who’s Arms Are You Resting In” blog) she is 9 years old and the only English she knows is the word “hi.” I remember sitting in the vibrant grass outside of the house that we had been constructing. Ella and I had been singing worship when Priscilla came running up the hill from her house and began speaking to me. she must have been telling a great story, her eyes were lighting up and she was laughing and extravagantly moving her hands around. When she was finally finished talking, she looked at me with excited eyes, and all I could say was, “No habla español, no intiendo.”
Telling a little girl who I could see so badly wanted to be my friend that I couldn’t understand her, that I couldn’t speak her language, in a way made me feel like a failure. Luckily, Priscilla laughed and we began to sing songs and play with each others hair.
Since then, I have seen Priscilla about twice a week. Although we have never actually had a full conversation, I would consider us to be the best of friends! She brings a snack to share with me every single Sunday. She never fails to run to give me the biggest hugs, and she loves to dance with me. We have built a whole relationship on everything but words, something that I always assumed were a pivotal key in being able to love people.
I read 1 John this week for the first time in a long time, and I keep finding myself reading it over and over and over again, meditating on the scripture. One of my favorite verses in it is 1 John 3:18, “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”
John 14:6 says “I am the way, and the truth, and the life..” When we’re being told to love in truth, we are being told to love in Jesus, because that truth is Him!
As I look back on the past month and a half of ministry, I see all the times that I have loved and been loved in ways that parallel to scripture.
Smiling at strangers; hugging my host good morning; sharing snacks with Priscilla; doing extra dishes; dancing; laughing; waving at people on the streets just so that they know they are seen. That’s love.
So I have come to the conclusion that love is not a language. it isn’t limited by the words that we speak, but it is infinite in our actions and our deeds because of who Jesus is, who He is in us, and what He did on the cross for us.
Love this. This reminds me of the quote attributed to St. Francis Assisi: “preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.” Keep up the great work!!!