My wife and I were visiting with new friends in Argentina. Our few words of Spanish and their efforts at English enabled us to begin learning more about each other.
During our conversation we talked of the beauty and ruggedness of America's mountains—both the Rockies of the North and the Andes of the South. An adventure from a thirty-day trek in the wilderness of the western United States was described in our chat. With my less-than-confident grasp of Spanish, I mentioned there had been lots of fish in the river where we camped —muchos pecados! I was on the receiving end of some puzzled looks and then laughter as it was pointed out that the word for fish is pescado, not pecado, which means sin!
Sometimes words, even when we're speaking the same language, can seem to get in the way of what we have to say. In today's world, if people truly want to learn about each other, they have to work at it. The same is true of spiritual precepts. It takes an open heart and a willing mind to meet the challenges of trying to grasp divine ideas through human language.
