Learning a Language Is Hard

Most of you know that I'm on Sabbatical for the primary purpose of learning Spanish. We have about 150 people who attend our Spanish service at The Bridge and almost half of them speak very little if any English. They call me, "Pastor" but I've not been able to communicate with them. So the elders of our church have graciously given me leave for three months to pour myself into learning Spanish.

It's hard. At least for a 53 year-old brain it is. I use Greek and Hebrew all the time but never conversationally. Our Greeks at The Bridge will tell you that I mispronounce their words every week.

But Spanish? I took Greek and Hebrew when my brain was young and mushy. I learned languages quickly back then and enjoyed it.

Now, it's hard. I am learning vocabulary words that have no association with English words. And most words that appear to have similarities are pronounced entirely differently. I am relearning how to pronounce letters altogether differently than we do in English. Word order is different. And for those of you reading this who are Latino, do you know how fast you talk? :-)

But the payoff of just about anything is proportionate to the commitment necessary and the effort it takes. The woman who told me that she teared up in our Spanish service last week when I prayed in Spanish...that made it worthwhile. "Vale la pena," they would say in Spanish. It means "worthwhile" or literally, "Worth the pain."

Valuable accomplishments are almost always hard. And through this summer the lesson I've learned is that it's easy to go after something when its new and you are inspired. But its in the daily, when the inspiration has subsided, when you are tired of the effort, that real progress is made.

When you were a new Christian, everything in your Christian walk was exciting. You wanted to hear more, learn more, and talk more about what Jesus did for you. But as time goes on, like everything else, the inspiration subsides. That's one reason there are so many "flash-in-the-pans." Jesus talked about this in his parable of the farmer planting seeds.

Its not how you were when you were excited and inspired that builds faith and produces fruit. It's how you are when you are not. It's what you do when you don't feel like it.

If you are a runner, you know what I'm talking about. It's those mornings when you don't feel like running that make the most difference in your training. It's that way with work, with parenting, with marriage, with your ministry and your friendships. It's a principle in life. Work the hardest when you feel like quitting.

So what have you allowed to fall by the wayside because you lost the feeling for it? Here's some of the most valuable advice you could ever get: Forget about the feelings and get back to doing what you need to do. The most valuable things in life are hard. Keep at it and it will be...

Vale la pena!