By Any Other Name Day 32

As a language and speech specialist one of my personal bug bears in life is when people address their children as if they are cretins. I find it particularly off putting when fathers, who I know to be eloquent, reasonable people, heighten the pitch of their voices and talk in the vocabulary of a three year old to their three year olds. They also adjust words to make them sound cuter which must be incredibly confusing for the child. And then everyone wonders why the child needs speech therapy. 

As much as I find it annoying as a person who works in education, as a parent I completely get it. Some parents aren’t particularly physically affectionate (and that’s ok) and some people aren’t good at spending endless hours piling small pebbles on top of each other (I fit into this category) and some people don’t always pack perfectly balanced lunch boxes (also ok) and some people find that the best way to express their love for their children is through the way they talk to them. 

As the classic book suggests we all have different ‘languages’ when it comes to expressing our love and I would suggest in a caveat that even within language we find different ways to let people know that they are loved. Sometimes, however, as with most things, that love can be lost in translation. It has taken my mom many years to learn my dad’s language of love and having children who could act as translators has certainly helped. My dad is one of the most affectionate and loving people I know once you learn how to translate him. And it is often only when children arrive on the scene that the purest forms of our love expression are exposed.

When Gray started at his exceptional pre-school I noticed that many of his teachers had an odd way of referring to God. They referred to Him as ‘Daddy God’. I found this a bit jarring at first. I had never heard Him referred to in such a child-like manner. In the hugely powerful novel ‘The Shack’ He is referred to as Papa and then through the course of the book His essence actually gets represented in three very diverse characters. In fact if there’s anyone in the world who encompasses many names, in many languages and levels of articulation it is God. And perhaps we should take a leaf out of Jesus’ book when He says, ‘I am who you say I am’. 

I remember reading a story about a missionary telling a remote tribe about Jesus. The missionary was telling them about all of the qualities of Christ and what He did for us all. At the end of his speech one of the tribespeople said, ‘Oh! That’s His name!’ 

When it comes to love there literally is no limit to the ways in which we can express it. And when it comes to God there is no limit to how we can experience Him. My late grandfather used to address God with the pronouns ‘Thee’ and ‘Thou’ when he prayed. And my children refer to Him as ‘Daddy God’ and I refer to him as ‘Father’. And, very significantly for me, Jews will never write His full name in reverence of Him and will always refer to Him as G_d. And He is all these things to all of us. Maybe sometimes people exploring the Christian faith for the first time get put off because of the words that people use to describe their very particular understanding of Him. 

Just as I may not talk baby talk to my children, and just as I will find other ways to show my children that I love them so too we are all invited into a very personal relationship with Abba, Father, Papa, Jesus, G_d, The Way, The Truth and The Life. And in choosing to be in relationship with him He will share His very personal love language specially designed just for each us. And the rose will smell as sweet.