Are you a polyglot? Only about 3% of the world’s population are polyglots. Which means they can speak 4 or more languages. A man by the name of Steve Kaufmann can speak 22 languages. At age 75 he is still learning new ones. Egyptian ruler Cleopatra is said to have spoken at least 9 languages.

Dr. Henry Kissinger who served as U.S. Secretary of State spoke multiple languages and was known for his heavy accent. He often opened a speech in American-accented German before switching to German-accented English with the joke that “I have reached a stage where I speak no language without an accent.” This always got a laugh.

I was six years old when I left Germany for the U.S. and was thrust into first grade in a small town of 650 in northern Montana, not speaking a word of English. During my middle school and high school years I lived in both Japan and Spain. I learned very little Japanese but did fairly well with Spanish. Unfortunately, both my German and Spanish skills have diminished greatly over the years. I still understand a good amount of both languages but don’t speak either fluently. I often wish I had more deliberately attempted to retain those languages. Working in an organization that broadcasts via radio, biblical content in over 200 languages is very exciting, and I am privileged to work with colleagues who speak various languages.

According to experts the top three most difficult languages to learn are Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, and Japanese. There is one language though that I am pursuing that I think is the hardest of all to learn, and you won’t see it listed in any ethnologue. It’s the language of Silence.  Silence is by far harder to learn and master than any other spoken language. Silence is an elegant and beautiful language.

We live in a noise filled world. Noise, words, and frenetic schedules dull our senses closing our ears to God’s still, small voice and making us numb to His touch. We fill our minds and lives with noise because it’s in the silence that we can truly begin to listen and hear, and we avoid silence because we often don’t want to listen nor hear what God has to say or reveal to us if we were to be quiet and silent before Him.

To achieve a deeper intimate relationship with God it is almost impossible to do so without times of stillness and silence. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know I am God”. Habakkuk 2:20 reads, “But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him. Henry Nouwen writes, “Silence is indispensable if we hope to add depth to our spiritual life. It guards the fire within our soul. Silence makes us pilgrims, it sharpens the keen edge of our souls, sensitizing us to those ever-so-light nudgings from our Heavenly Father.

You may not be a polyglot, but you can at least become bilingual. Begin to pursue and cultivate the language of silence.

• YouTube