A few weeks ago I wrote about a sign I see in my gym. You in the fitness: not your native tongue (you can read about it here). It’s easy to poke fun of awkward English and ask rhetorical questions. Could the translation software do no better than this? Blame is easy, isn’t it?
These signs whisper to me that my true heart language was supposed to be the Language of Eden. The language of communion and cooperation. Instead I speak jealousy, envy, fear.
China has signs galore that are not, shall we say, Edenesque. I am ever so slowly retraining my reaction from being one of merely poking fun or groaning to one of ‘Chuckle and’. Chuckle and be reminded of my protruding plank. Not only are some of the signs I see lacking in Eden tones, the very words that come from me fail to reflect the Garden we were meant to live in.
eden could have used this sign:
A gentle, but clear boundary given was. You may eat from any tree, but one. The very next scene, I repeat, the very next scene, they are hanging out near the one tree they weren’t to eat from. Why are they standing there when they have a whole garden to enjoy?
Why do I stay too close to the things I shouldn’t and not close enough to that which is good for me? I try not to keep sugar in my home. When I’m hungry (or bored or lonely) I open the refrigerator door, looking for food. There are lots of healthy, good for me choices, but I keep looking for something else. Something that whispers ‘I’m not from Eden.’
But fall they did. Like Jill’s quick tumble after Jack, we’ve been falling ever since.
The language of Eden is one of hope. One of communion, not blaming. We speak Eden lost: The woman made me. The serpent made me. The boredom made me. The lack of a husband made me. The lack of influence at work made me. The pain made me.
Blaming wasn’t supposed to flow so freely. So naturally. Like background noise, we forget it was our second language because we’ve taken to it like a fish takes to water.
Today, listen to your thoughts, your words, your responses. Where you hear blame coming from you, remember that we were sent from the garden to spare us living this way forever. But we, the people of Eden, can begin to speak now how we will speak when we return.
Blamelessly.
It seems so foreign, doesn’t it? And it will stay that way without practice. Today what is one area you’ll practice speaking the language of Eden when it comes to blame?
Adam even blamed God – by blaming the woman that God gave him. Blame flows way too easily. Good points. I think sometimes we just have to suck it up and admit responsibility sometimes.
It does Loren. Sadly it does!
I love how you tied together Engrish with this:
“Blaming wasn’t supposed to flow so freely. So naturally. Like background noise, we forget it was our second language because we’ve taken to it like a fish takes to water.”
So true, and yet it is so easy to let the ego get in the way and put the onus on someone else, eh? Wise thoughts, my friend, and aptly and eloquently expressed.
All too easy. Sigh :)
“Why do I stay too close to the things I shouldn’t and not close enough to that which is good for me?”
Yes, I do that! Because I think those are the things that will make me happy! But of course they don’t. I’m happiest when I submit to God – even when that doesn’t look fun at the moment.
Sigh. I think we all do it! But hopefully as we grow, we do it more infrequently!