Intentional Parents

This morning the girls and I started our day as we do most every day: breakfast together. Then towards the end of the meal, someone usually asks, “Whose turn is it for verses?” Today it was my second-oldest’s turn. We listened and stumbled our way through Hebrews 12:1 and 2; those are the verses we are currently working on memorizing. Then we recited together Romans 1:16, Lamentations 3:22-26, Luke 14:11, Genesis 1:1, and Psalm 46 — verses we have already learned. Tomorrow we’ll work on Hebrews 12:1 and 2 again and review other verses from our little index-card box.

It takes about five minutes per day, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Why? Glad you asked. Here are just a few reasons.

Reason 1: Memorizing Scripture as a family builds unity instead of competition. We all memorize the same passage, and we don’t move on to a new passage until all family members can recite the current one together. If one person memorizes faster than another, it doesn’t matter. In fact, the one who has already memorized the verses helps the others by reciting the verses clearly and correctly every day until the others have learned the Scripture as well. Hiding God’s Word in your heart in this way reinforces the messages contained in it: community, rather than competition; helping the weaker brother or sister, rather than leaving him or her in the dust; using your gifts to help others, rather than feeding personal pride.

Reason 2: Memorizing and reviewing Scripture as a family makes sure everyone retains all the verses, not just temporarily stores them in their short-term memory. The beauty of the system that will be detailed later in this e-letter is that every month you review every verse you’ve memorized. And isn’t that really the goal: to remember Scripture? A verse memorized and then forgotten doesn’t seem to measure up to the standard of hiding it in our hearts.

Reason 3: Memorizing Scripture as a family models the importance of hiding God’s Word in your heart at every age — adults included. I grow weary of adults who make excuses for themselves for not memorizing Scripture. Sure, it gets harder as you grow older, but so does getting out of bed in the morning! If we want our children to really comprehend the value of God’s Word, we must model that importance by putting forth the effort to continue learning it and, yes, memorizing it. What a testimony to God’s daily grace and priority in our lives as we focus our minds on His words even when it’s not easy!

Reason 4: Memorizing Scripture as a family emphasizes memorizing for the right reasons. God’s Word is of so much more value than to be tainted by bribing a child to memorize it for trinkets or treats! We memorize Scripture because it is more valuable than gold or silver and more desirable than sweets (Psalm 19:7-11). The simple system outlined below makes memorizing as a family a pleasant exercise, not at all cumbersome or dreary. No need for bribes; it is a natural part of family life.

Reason 5: When you memorize Scripture as a family, you can select verses as God directs for your family members, family mission, and family ministry. What a great opportunity to share how God is using His Word to speak to your heart as you explain how you came to select the next verses to be memorized!

The best part about all of this is that a simple Scripture Memory System makes family memorization easy and habit forming. Details are in the Resources section below. I encourage you as intentional parents to make family Scripture memory a priority in your home.

Q & A

Q: Shouldn’t I give my young children only short phrases to memorize?

A: Young children have much more capacity to memorize than people give them credit for. They are constantly listening and imitating. It’s been our experience that the younger children can usually memorize a passage quicker than we older people can. Don’t sell them short.

While we’re talking about young children, let me just mention that I usually didn’t have to force the youngest siblings to recite along with us. They joined in automatically as soon as they could because they wanted to be a part of this family activity. As of today, my youngest daughter, who has autism, still isn’t joining in and she just turned eight. But I’m trying to rest in the fact that she is hearing God’s Word every morning and He has promised that His Word will not return void but will accomplish His purposes (Isaiah 55:11). It’s getting into her heart and mind even if she is not saying the words aloud. So don’t worry about at exactly what age your child should begin reciting with you. Make this memorization time beneficial for you, and allow the children to join you as they are able. Don’t pressure them. They will benefit from hearing God’s Word every day whether they recite aloud or not.

Q: What verses or passages should we memorize?

A: Memorize any verses that God lays on your heart. Over the years we’ve focused on the verses and character trait definitions in A Child’s Book of Character Building; we’ve learned the Proverbs verses mentioned in Wisdom and the Millers; we’ve incorporated verses from special forty-day emphases at our church meetings; we’ve memorized psalms that I learned as a child; we’ve added verses that explain salvation, emphasize the deity of Christ, and encourage Christian living; we’ve also thrown in verses that relate to what we’re studying in school at the time, like the Ten Commandments; and we have a lot of verses from Peacemaker Ministries materials.

If you would like a list of verses to get you started, I’ve posted one at our sister site, Simply Charlotte Mason.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 1st, 2006 at 7:58 pm and is filed under The Bible, The Five Gifts of Intentional Parents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.