As two-year-old Emerald learns to talk, she often struggles to make us understand. The other day she said, “Ah-bye-ya? Ah-bye-ya?” Three of us stood in front of her making guesses as if we were a panel playing a word game and she was trying to stump us.

“I by you? Go bye-bye? Oh baby?”

On and on we guessed without getting it right as Emerald repeated her question again and again. Finally frustration got the best of her, and she left the room with a knitted brow. It’s tough not to be understood when you know exactly what you’re trying to say. The gap in communication between us must have been much like what happened at the biblical Tower of Babel.

Although the building project had begun with everyone speaking the same language, before it finished workers couldn’t understand or be understood. Because the language barrier happened abruptly, intense frustration must have been the order of that day, too.

Ever since then, citizens of the world have had trouble understanding each other. Existing languages number about 6500, and most of us know only one of them. I often think of Adam and Eve and their family. What language did they speak? Surely it wasn’t English.

I also wonder about the language of heaven, which I’m hoping will be plopped into all our brains in one instant: grammar, usage, vocabulary and all. (If I have to attend language school once I get there, it’ll be a huge disappointment.)

Words are a most valuable possession, particularly those of the Bible. And since God assures us his Word-of-words is eternal, we’ll probably be reading/hearing it in a brand new language.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the Lord decided not only to put a new language inside our brains but to deposit all of Scripture in there at the same time? No more struggling to memorize, or reviewing to keep it fresh, or looking up references. We would know it, understand it, and have it handy for immediate use. I can’t imagine such a gift!

As for Emerald and her frustration over our not grasping the meaning of “ah-bye-ya?”, a few minutes later she reappeared in front of us with…. her little pink umbrella. “Ah-bye-ya!” she announced in triumph, holding it up for all to see.

Thrilled to connect with her at last, we applauded and said, “Umbrella! Umbrella!” Her broad grin was testimony to the joy of being fully understood. If heaven’s language will make us feel like that, then communicating is going to be great fun indeed!

“You are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)