Words and Wonder
“Fearfully and wonderfully made.”
Psalm 139:14b (NIV)
Our son brought his oldest daughter over Saturday afternoon. We hadn’t seen Birdie James in about three weeks, and I was surprised at how much she had changed during that time. Now 19 months old, Birdie is learning at lightening speed. She no longer looks or acts like an infant. She is now a toddler who is asserting her independence as she quickly gains new skills.
After her dad left, Birdie James went to our back door and said, “Go out!” I was thrilled. Those two words are a sentence!
I tried to hold her hand, but she shook me off as she began exploring our patio and back yard. We picked a couple of Oakleaf hydrangea leaves that she promptly began waving like hosannah palm branches as she toddled down a walkway to our back gate.
Over the next hour, our yard became a classroom as we walked and I named objects. It was a language lesson for her and an indescribable gift for me.
“Leaf, Birdie. This is a leaf,” I said.
“Leaf,” Birdie repeated.
I picked up an acorn and said, “Acorn!”
Birdie couldn’t say acorn, but when I changed the word to “nut,” she promptly repeated, “nut.”
The same was true for other words: bird, light, hot, paci, sister, Poppie, and Papa. Each new word brought a big smile to Birdie James and filled me with wonder and joy.
At one point Bruce was trying to grill burgers and his phone alarm rang reminding him to turn the burgers. Suddenly Birdie James put her hand to her ear and said, “Hello!” But the thrill of the afternoon, for me at least, was when she finally called me “Mia.” She’s been able to say Papa, Mama, and Da-da for a few months, but never “Mia,” my grandmother name.
Saturday Birdie called me by name, and I was over the moon both with her words and the light of recognition in her beautiful eyes. She is quickly understanding that words have meaning.
As a special needs parent, I don’t ever take words for granted. I’m often asked when I first knew that something wasn’t right with James Bruce’s development. Looking back at his infancy, I suspected something was different from our older children when James Bruce was two months old. But it wasn’t until he was two years old and not talking that I knew we had a major developmental delay. We began speech therapy, but his speech was still limited to about twenty words by the time he was four. Birdie James had at least twenty words on Saturday. Thank you, Lord!
One day I was sitting with James Bruce in the Children’s Hospital speech therapy waiting room. A kind African American grandmother asked, “Does your boy talk?”
“No, ma’am,” I responded sadly. “That’s why we’re here.”
“My grandson was like that, and now I have to tell him to shut up!”
“If my son ever learns to talk, I won’t ever tell him to shut up,” I promised.
As James Bruce’s language improved, so did his behavior. He never learned how to engage in meaningful conversations, but his language improved with music as he sang and learned dozens of hymns over the 38 years of his life.
I once heard an author open a plenary message by declaring, “Words make worlds.” Indeed, they do. The book of Genesis begins with the Creation account by recording, “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). God brought order to the cosmos by speaking His Word to the chaos. Read Genesis 1 and you will find ten “and God said” verses. With each new act of creation, God spoke and it was done.
The Apostle John opens his Gospel account by declaring, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” (John 1:1-2) Jesus was the logos, the Word of God Incarnate. The power of Jesus’ word was on full display throughout his ministry as he healed lepers; restored sight to the blind; calmed the wind and waves; and raised the dead- all with the power of His word!
God has also given us His written word so that we can know Him. “All Scripture is God-breathed” declares the Apostle Paul (2 Timothy 3:16).
Language is a God-given gift. This Thanksgiving season why not use it to give thanks to the One who still speaks?