Don’t Ask Me to Roll An “R”

I’ve never made a secret of the fact that I couldn’t talk well when I was young and I’ve freely admitted that traces of my childhood speech impediment can still be heard. I honestly don’t know whether or not I’ve told y’all about the dreaded speech therapist who used to hold my tongue while putting me through his little regimen, but that’s the gospel truth, too. The speech teacher would literally hold my tongue and ask me to repeat after him. Can you imagine? I couldn’t talk well when I had sole control of my tongue. Why on earth he thought we could get better results if he held onto it I will never know. I hope they’ve abandoned that practice.

Years later, yours truly, (the eternal optimist) enrolled in High School Spanish. The results weren’t much better. Spanish didn’t come easy to my normal speaking peers and it was doubly hard for me. By the way, don’t bother asking me to roll an “R”! Couldn’t do it then; can’t do it ‘til this day. I mean this in the nicest way, but if you want an “r” rolled, you’re going to have to roll it yourself.

It’s an established fact. Younger people have an easier time learning new languages. The older we are the more challenging it is for us to learn new sentence structures and the harder it becomes for us to pronounce previously foreign sounds. It’s not impossible, mind you, just difficult. I think many of the same things can be said about learning to pray. It might feel pretty strange at first. Your sentences might sound all King James textbook and you may find yourself stuttering and stretching for the right words, but I beg you not to become discouraged and quit. While Spanish will never roll off this belle’s tongue, talking to God has become as easy as breathing in and breathing out, and you can know this same delight. Can you imagine!