As we walk through the daily grind, the type of conversations we have with God make up our spiritual vocabulary.
As a parent of young children, I am constantly bombarded with new gadgets to buy. A lot of the marketing out there plays on the parental fear that something I do — or neglect to do — will mess up my child.
Since my prominent love language is words, one tool I came across recently definitely tapped into that fear grabbed my attention.
“The LENA Digital Language Processor (DLP) can capture up to 16 hours of your child’s language environment… it collects the sounds and words that your child says and hears.”
This tiny electronic gizmo drops into your child’s clothing and actually tracks what they call conversational turns — “those moments when you speak to your child and your child responds, and vice versa”.
Why would people pay up to $699 to track words exchanged between adult and baby?
The Power Of Talk
The answer lies in the LENA Research Report called “The Power Of Talk”. The study conducted by PhDs Betty Hart and Todd Risley determined that a child’s intellectual success is directly related to the amount of talk the child hears from birth to age three.
Children that hear 30 million words by age three versus 10 million words later scored 40 points higher in IQ tests.
Interestingly enough, the type of word spoken was also noted.
Words of encouragement spoken to them outnumbered words issued as commands or disapproval. By a ratio of 3 to 1.
Although this study prompted me to do a reality check on how much conversation I initiated with my children, I immediately thought about my relationship with God:
- How much of God’s words am I allowing to soak into my daily world?
- When I speak to God, am I pausing long enough to actually listen and anticipate an answer?
- How many conversation turns am I having with God?
Spiritual Vocabulary
If there was a spiritual equivalent to this conversation tracker, I wondered what words would fill my spiritual vocabulary?
As I walk through the daily grind of life, I encounter countless words that command me to trust myself more than God’s love and provision.
Sometimes it’s the words I say to myself when I fall short of my own expectations. Worry, weary, incomplete.
On the days my disposition is sunny, the world has plenty of messages to disparage me. Just be more, do more, have more… you are not enough.
Even church culture can fall culprit to performance-focused importance: be spiritual via achievement and prominence.
On the contrary, whenever I turn to God’s vocabulary, I find His words are full of life.
His words of love reign independent of human reality.
Conversational Love Turns
Whenever I wander off too long on my own words or the words of others, I inevitably end up unsettled and restless.
Each time it happens, I return to the Author of unconditional love and provision.
Here are some of our conversational love turns, Scripture I’m soaking in, to take to memory.
To be reassured that I am valued by God–
“For your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth.” Psalm 26:3
In my desire to be noticed —
“The LORD your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with his love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17
In my fear that it’s too late —
“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten–the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm–my great army that I sent among you.” Joel 2:25
What are the words that fill your spiritual vocabulary?
Is there Scripture that has caught your attention? Share something you’ve been soaking in.
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” John 6:68
Today's post is Part 3 in the series "He's Just So Into You".
Be sure to catch:
Part 1: The Love Languages: A Running Conversation With God
Part II: A Soul's Longing: Speak To Me
Would you join me? Share and comment.
I love hearing your thoughts and post my response at the end of the day or thereafter.
Catch Faith Barista hot and fresh!
SUBSCRIBE NOW.
Receive this series directly in your mailbox via email (click here) or RSS (click here) news reader.
Also shared on:
11 Comments
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Glynn Young and HisFireFly, FaithBarista. FaithBarista said: New Post — The Power Of Talk http://bit.ly/40owb3 What's Your Spiritual Vocabulary? […]
Fascinating concepts to consider… this one’ll take some chewing…
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by gyoung9751: The Power of Talk by @TheBonnieGray. http://bit.ly/1bgHAb…
Often, I think, the most powerful, most complete, spiritual language is the language of silence.
John O’Donohue writes in “Anam Cara”, “With the sense of hearing, we listen to creation. . . All good sounds have silence. . . To be genuinely spiritual is to have great respect for the possibilities and presence of silence. Martin Heidegger says that true listening is worship. . . .”
As Advent nears, we might all close our ears to the “Buy me! Buy me!” refrain that assaults us at every turn and instead listen closely for the song of His coming.
Such a powerful post Bonnie! You make such a great point about making sure we let His words soak in… yes! As you know I love scripture and love all the words and use it in my art so people can let it SOAK IN! 🙂
@Kelly: Hey Kelly. Wonderful to hear there’s something to chew on. 🙂 Hope you’re well, as your nearing your “day”.
@Maureen: Thanks so much for John O’Donohue quote on “Anam Cara”. What a treat! And yes, I’m right with you there for Advent.. thus the post. 😉
@Jennifer: It’s so wonderful to share a common love for the Word. Your artwork has “soak” written all over it.
I don’t remember visiting your blog before but I’m so glad I came today. You shared such words of wisdom. This especially stood out to me:
“Whenever I wander off too long on my own words or the words of others, I inevitably end up unsettled and restless. Each time it happens, I return to the Author of unconditional love and provision.”
Wow; well worth writing down in my journal as a quote from the Faith Barista!
My verse that has helped me the most lately is Isaiah 41:10 and I wrote about it today on Heart Choices.
Blessings,
Debbie
Wow. This is so good. As a mom to little ones I too worry about the words we use together. Am I speaking enough? Are we reading enough? Am I sharing my heart? Am I sharing the heart of God? Recently God has been speaking to me about slowing down to sit with Him for a bit…and how that flows into the lives of my children.
The verses I’ve been working through are from Galatians 6…verse 3 has been playing on repeat, “If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”
Praying that my vocabulary would be filled to the brim with His words.
Blessings.
A great post! My love language is words, too, so I can really relate to this. A “conversation tracker” – how interesting. I pray that I’ll be more aware of my own vocabulary with the Lord since I’ve read your words today. Thanks for the blessing.
@Debbie: Thanks for your encouraging words! What a great sharing on your blog.
@Jessica: I was convicted of this myself as a mom of two boys under 5 years. It’s hard to have consistent daily time when our time is so chopped up with interruptions. But, God will help us.
@Lisa: Yeah, I was intrigued by the concept and realized people in my lives and God are catching every word — including what I tell myself!
[…] dry cleaning, and garage surprises, my Hubby’s love language happens to be Acts of Service (check out the list of Love Languages). So, ha! What do you find irresistible about the month of February — or do […]