Bits for Sunday, February 21

I scanned through things I’ve written over the years and couldn’t find that I’d addressed this topic specifically, so I’m going ahead with it today. If I have already told you this, I guess you get a week off from reading.

Memorizing Bible verses is not the easiest thing for me. We’re supposed to be doing that as part of our Sunday School unit right now and I’m just NOT doing a great job with it. I tried…at first. I’d write the verses on index cards and put them in my day planner so I could see them throughout the day. But I quickly learned that seeing and learning are two very different things.

Here’s the thing. I know exactly what to do to fix this problem. It’s all about hearing the verses for me. I can rattle off a number of verses I learned from watching Mark Lowry comedy videos in high school. When he got to the serious part of every video, he would deliver verse after verse and I can recite them all – complete with his inflections. I even remember verses I learned from listening to a cassette (gasp!) recording of a college ministry team that traveled to our church years ago.

And of course…music! I have learned so many verses from songs. In fact, I’ve declared that if I ever have kids, that’s what they can spend their time listening to. Verse music. At least it will teach them something productive when it gets stuck in their head. (Years of a career in babysitting soured me toward traditional kids’ music and shows.)

So yes, I know the answer to my memorization problems is to get an audio Bible. But that’s not what I’m writing about.

When I exercise out and away from people (and therefore don’t have to worry about them thinking I’m crazy…) I read verses aloud from index cards. And after hearing them out loud over and over, I begin to memorize them. And in order to make sure I don’t forget what I’m learning, I do alphabet cards.

It’s a technique Mom taught me when I was very young. She had a set of verses written in marker on pieces of construction paper, and she had one verse for each letter of the alphabet. What a great way to work on alphabet memorization (I was very young, remember?) and Scripture memory at the same time!

So now I have my own set of verses…ones that I picked out to pray over Mr. Missing…and I love it when I encounter one of those verses along the way of life. I love seeing it used for another purpose while secretly knowing it’s one of “my verses.”

Recently I compiled a second list, and I’m using them in a project for a gift for a couple of people. But as I looked through the verses today, I thought they’d make a great second set of cards for me…because I could use some of these committed to memory.

So I share this with you…because if you’re like me in not being so great at memorization…this might just be something that can help you!