Southern Accent

There’s a southern accent, 

where I come from

The young’uns call it country

The Yankees call it dumb

I got my own way of talkin’

But everything is done, 

with a southern accent

Where I come from.”

(Southern Accents, Tom Petty)

You don’t really ever appreciate that you have an ‘accent’ until you go to a place where you think they have one.  Thing is, check your citizenship.  You are in their land.  Majority rules friend.  You’re the one with the odd phrases and funny ‘way of talkin’.  You’re the one with the accent.  This first occurred to me when I went to Wales to study for a year.  The first person I spoke to getting off the bus asked me where I was from.  I proudly said Canada.  “Funny” she said.  “I thought you were Irish.”  I quickly realized that I was the ‘stranger in a strange land’.  And you stand out.

This past year, my wife and I went to see Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers play Toronto.  Good concert.  And I’ve been on a bit of a Tom Petty kick since.  His song ‘Southern Accents’ has really been speaking to me lately.  Not because I’m a southerner…I’m an [Irish] Canadian (at least according to one Welsh lady)!  It’s because I’m intrigued by the thought that everyone recognizes a southerner, whether you’re from the south or not.  No matter where they go, what they do or how they do it, southerners do it ‘southern style’.  “Everything is done with a southern accent, where [they] come from.”  A southern accent is not just how they talk.  Where they come from informs very much who they are.  It’s part of their DNA.  Their accent is an outward expression of their identity and a representation of how they live.  And it comes from where they come from.

And as a man of God this really challenges me.  Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”  We are created by the Creator in HIS image to reflect HIS image.  Who we are, is everything about who He is.  It’s our identity.  How great is that!  How scary is that?!  Who I am and how I live should represent Him.  Even more, who I am and how I live should actually reflect the glory of God.  Represent and Reflect.  The perfection of that is described in Hebrews 1:3 in speaking about Christ “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being…”.  But do people see that of me?  Does He see that of me??  My true ‘accent’ should rightfully be the radiance of His Glory…an outward expression of His identity to this generation, this strange land. 

Sometimes though, I think I spend too much time away from home.  It’s far too easy to forget where I come from.  I too often blend over standing out.  Thing about an accent is that you tend to lose it the longer you’re away from home.  It’s always still there of course, but it tends to get dulled and distorted by living away and living with.  It’s a powerful reminder to LIVE AS a “stranger in a strange land” always “longing for a better country—a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16)…’where I come from’.  Thanks Tom for the reminder to LIVE FOR.