Memorization

I have never been great at memorizing things.  My mom use to spend hours with me trying to help me memorize State capitols, spelling words, and Bible verses in any way she could.  We played games, we sang songs, we acted things out, all with very little to show for it.  I still remember working all week long to memorize my Awana verses.   It took tons of work and countless strategies for me to be ready to say my verses on Wednesday night, but I will always be thankful for the seeds of truth that were sown into my life in the process.  Even though I have a terrible time recalling those verses off the top of my head,  God frequently brings them to my mind even today. 

I want my children to have seeds of truth planted in their lives through memorizing Bible verses too, but I have often been overwhelmed by the daunting nature of the task.  I didn't know how to start on my own so I just kept dragging my feet.  I told myself that I would find a church with an Awana program and enroll my kiddos in it once they were school age.  But school is still a long ways off for my crew, so on a whim, I started memorizing John 3:16 with Nicole.  With very little effort on my part, she was walking around quoting that verse all on her within days of being introduced to it.  Amazed and encouraged, I quickly moved onto another verse but then lost all momentum when that one didn't seem to grip her memory in the same way. 

It's been about a year since Nicole first put John 3:16 to memory, and haven't been able to shake the idea that now is the time to invest in memorizing Bible verses with my kids.  I have thought long and hard about how we can do this sustainably, and I want you to know that it has literally taken me months to get this off the ground.  It's been a long process!

 My first step was figuring out what we would memorize.  After all, the Bible is a very big book and I was having a hard time selecting verses that felt appropriate for my 3 year old.  I wasn't having a lot of luck finding verses on my own, and my internet searches weren't much better.  Then I stumbled across a book called Parenting with Scripture by Kara Durbin and quickly purchased myself a copy.  I eagerly flagged all of the verses that seemed particularly relevant for Nicole and then started typing them up. 

I wanted a special way to display our verses so I purchased 3 picture frames - one for Nicole's room, one for Jonah's room and one for our mantel.  I took the glass out of them so that they are safe for little hands to hold and carry and then I placed the first verse that we're going to memorize in each frame.   The rest of the plan is pretty simple.  We're using family dinner time to practice and talk about the verse at hand.   I thought about adding this to our bedtime routine, but dinner felt like a much more conversational space to consistently practice our verse together.  I don't care how many verses we memorize in a year or how long it takes us to memorize each new verse, the goal at hand is to sow seeds of truth into the lives of my children.  I can think of no better tool to do that with than the Bible. 

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says "All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be equipped for every good work." This has certainly been true in my life, and I want my kids to know enough of Gods Word for it to be true in theres too. 

Love,
Erica