The Language of Friendship
Yesterday, Monic and I collected our dear friend Ans from the airport, arriving from the Netherlands.
Our friendship stretches all the way back to 1985, when Ans and I were both serving as young missionaries in the England London Mission. Life carried us in different directions after that, but our friendship was renewed and deepened during the years Monic and I served as Mission Leaders in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Some friendships seem able to pick up a conversation even after many years have passed.
We spent the afternoon catching up wandering through the cobbled streets of the little historic village of Culross and then afterwards over a lovely meal at the Red Lion Inn.
Of course, the first challenge was learning how to pronounce its name.
Culross looks as though it should be pronounced exactly as it is written. It is not.
The correct pronunciation is closer to “Coo-riss.”
With one Scottish accent, two Dutch accents and more than one language moving around the table, there were a few attempts for sure. Throughout the day, words were misheard, syllables wandered off in unexpected directions and familiar expressions sounded entirely unfamiliar in someone else’s accent.
There were a few giggles too.
Yet beneath all the teasing and mispronunciation was something rather beautiful. We didn’t need to speak with the same accent to understand one another. And we didn’t need perfect words to know that we were loved, welcomed and valued.
Languages
Perhaps friendship has its own language.
The Book of Mormon describes a people who had their “…hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.” – Mosiah 18:21
That phrase seemed quite fitting yesterday.
Our accents were different. Our languages occasionally became tangled. Some words needed repeating, and the pronunciation of Culross caused a little amusement for us all. Yet our hearts understood one another perfectly well.
Perhaps that is one of the quiet miracles of enduring friendship.
Time may pass, geography may separate us and life may carry us through very different experiences, but love can knit the years together again.
God does not require us all to speak alike, sound alike or come from the same place. He simply invites us to draw closer, listen generously and allow our hearts to be joined in love.
Yesterday, in the little village of Culross – or Coo-riss, if you are saying it properly – I was reminded once more that the loveliest conversations are not always the most fluent ones.
They are the ones in which friendship does the translating.
Who might need to hear the language of your friendship today?
