Must... Learn... Afrikaans!

I bought an Afrikaans diary this year (a weekly planner, for my American friends). I figure every little bit helps. I already know the days of the weeks and the months of the year; it's the quotes at the bottom of each page that I have a bit of trouble with. I am forcing myself to look up words I don't know rather than skip them.

The reason I want to work harder on my Afrikaans is this: I don't want to be one of those immigrant parents who needs their kids to translate for them. And since the kids have to learn Afrikaans in school, I should learn it, too. I want to lead by example (but why is that sometimes hard? Is it because deep down I'm selfish?)

What is most interesting to me are the Bible verses. I find that reading them in another language often gives me a fresh perspective. One of my favourite examples is Genesis 5:24, "Enoch walked with God." If you read it in the Afrikaans translation it says, "Henog het met God gewandel," which, if you translate it back to English reads, "Enoch strolled with God."

There's a huge difference between strolling and walking, isn't there? Walking implies going from one place to another with a destination in mind. Strolling implies being with a person because you enjoy their company; the act of being with them is more important than the destination. And if God had to get me to learn Afrikaans to teach me that being relational with Him is more important than trying to figure out where He's leading me, so be it.

"Ek ken nie die pad waarop God my lei nie, maar ek ken my Gids goed." - Martin Luther