Translation

We have a wonderful landscaper who comes to our home twice a year.
In the spring, he and his team will prepare and mulch the beds around the house.
He will plant any new plants that I request.
He makes everything look wonderful.

The treat for me is to have him do fall cleanup.
I like the leaves out of the beds.
I appreciate the way he expertly cuts back bushes and shrubs to prepare for winter.
Everything quietly rests.

I was so grateful that he and his team came right before Thanksgiving.
My husband planned to put the Christmas lights on the bushes on Black Friday.
That is the day we routinely decorate for Christmas.
Having all the bushes cut back, and the mulch beds clear of leaves, was so wonderful.

It has been an interesting fall; however.
Not all of the tress have dropped their leaves.
Most trees are now bare, but the tree near the street still had many yellow leaves.
We need a strong wind to make all those leaves fall, I said to my husband.

I looked out the window and saw that the men were clearing every leaf from our lawn.
These men made sure that not one leaf was left.
I couldn’t believe how quickly they blew them onto a tarp and tossed them in the woods.
Our lawn was pristine.

The men were trimming our magnolia tree, which had grown to the second story of our house.
It was never supposed to get that tall.
Our landscaper trimmed it in such a way so that it would grow fuller instead of taller.
I am anxious to see it in bloom in the spring.

I heard our doorbell and I went to the door.
It was one of the men.
I not speak English…he began, yet he was doing just fine.
He held up his phone and everything he wanted to ask me was translated there.

I was able to read his questions and answer accordingly.
I do not speak Spanish but wished I did at that moment.
He wanted to know if the height of the magnolia tree was fine with me?
I could answer with a smile, a YES, a thumbs up, and a thank you.

I was thankful for the technology that allowed us to communicate.
I appreciated his ingenuity.
The landscaper was at another home in our neighborhood.
This man asked his question and got his answer.

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth. (Genesis 11:1-9)

Can you imagine a time when everyone spoke the same language?
God wanted the people to scatter and fill the earth.
These people disobeyed and settled in one place.
They built a city with the purpose of making a name for themselves.

God confused their language.
Now it was impossible to communicate clearly with each other.
God desires His people to obey and make HIS name great.
These people were all about making their name great.

I thought of Babel when I came back inside after answering the man’s question.
There was a time…
In the meantime…
There will be a time again…

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation:7:9, 10)

Maranatha!
Come Lord Jesus.

2 responses to “Translation”

1. Beautifully shared, Gina! We celebrate with great JOY this season the first coming of Jesus and anticipate his second coming with abundant JOY as well…yes & amen to ‘Come Lord Jesus!!’

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   • Yes and amen, Carolyn!

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