Not Lost in Translation

Tom Barnard

 

“The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here,

but it can never forget what they did here….”

Abraham Lincoln, from the Gettysburg Address

 

“Speak clearly, if you speak at all;

carve every word before you let it fall.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes

 

A friend responded kindly to a recent devotional he received from me by saying, “Wow! Powerful! This translates!” The friend is a missionary serving in Brazil. He speaks English and Portuguese. If he were limited to the use of English alone, he probably would have said, “Wow! Powerful! This will preach!” But translating the devotional into Portuguese tells another story. I think he was saying, “In any language, the translation of these words into the lives of believers is powerful.” Not as powerful as Lincoln’s two-minute speech on a battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1863. No one could top that. But powerful, never-the-less. Our words change lives for bad or for good. Scream out racial slurs to an audience in a comedy club, and you will be censured. Challenge a Russian leader to “Tear down this wall!” and you will be admired by friends and foes alike. There is power in the human voice—power than can change lives. Oliver Wendell Holmes was right: “Speak clearly, if you speak at all; carve every word before you let it fall.”

 

Heavenly Father, I am sure I have spoken thousands of words this week. For the most part, Lord, I haven’t given a second thought to what I said or how I said it. But I need to be careful in what I say—both in writing and the spoken word. I don’t want to hurt anyone; I just want to be a faithful spokesperson for You. I pray that you will listen to my heart before I speak and help me “carve every word” before I let it fall. “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14 NIV)  Amen.