I returned my final video call for the day to Enila in Brazil. She told me about her plans for the coming month, explaining her non-stop travel in detail.
Enila visited us earlier this year. Due to her long travel, she experienced pain in her legs. She took my suggestion and purchased compression socks, which helped as she wore them throughout her visit and return trip home.
As we wrapped up our conversation, I listened to the wind howling around the corner of my house and the rain pouring down by the bucket load. Our internet connection was unstable and glitched right as I reminded her to wear her socks. She looked at me bewilderingly. I repeated, “Wear your socks.” Her face now was even more perplexed, so in a raised voice, I made sure she could hear me, saying once again, “Wear your socks.”
By now, she had her hand on her head. I explained, “You must wear your compression socks for the long trip you are going on. It will mitigate leg pain.” I could hear the audible contractions of her diaphragm as she burst out in laughter. Now it was time for her to explain as she viewed my perplexed expression.
“I heard you when you first told me to wear my socks,” Enila said. “But what amazed me was how, not seeing my feet, you knew it was also raining in Brazil and that I was actually wearing warm socks.”
“Then, when you kept on repeating, ‘Wear your socks,” I thought it must be an Afrikaans or English expression of which I was unaware,” Enila continued. “I completely forgot about my compression socks and was not thinking about them at all during our conversation.”
When we both realized the misunderstanding, we were bursting with laughter.
When you live in another country, being misunderstood is the most stressful and common phenomenon you deal with . . . multiple times a day. Even if you can speak the language fluently, there are always misunderstandings because of the difference in cultures. If we have misunderstandings between people speaking the same language, you can imagine the misunderstandings between people of different cultures and languages.
This episode made me realize how often we misunderstand God. He made us. We speak the same language. Yet God, like us, is misunderstood.
How can we then prevent being forever misunderstood in the heavenly country? After much contemplation, I concluded there is one thing that cannot be misunderstood in any conversation, language, or culture—love. If you love someone, they will know it. Love cannot be misunderstood.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16). Love your neighbor like yourself (Matthew 22:39 and Mark 12:31). Love God and love one another (Matthew 22:36-40).
This experience gave me a new perspective on love—for me and for humanity. The term “Wear your socks” will now forever remind me of God’s pure love and how He intended that we should love others.
