Happy 2009 plus Scripture Memory

My oh my have we had a full week since Christmas here! Somehow we contracted an upper respiratory "bug" and it has systematically attacked almost each of the 13 family members who are currently living at home now. Then, this last Monday, little Tim, the "baby" of our family, awoke with a particularity icky sounding cough. We are rarely sick, certainly almost never have to go to the doctor, but I knew that this cough needed to be checked out. So we took him in to see our family doctor. Poor little guy had pneumonia! Can you imagine?

Anyway, after several days of antibiotics and back-and-forth trips to our wonderful doctor, Timmy is on the mend. I am so grateful to the Lord for His care in our lives, and for modern antibiotics~ they do have their place!

It was a trying and full week, with lots of little ones who needed their "momma." When we are in the midst of a season like that, it is my desire to wholeheartedly embrace God's change in plans for me and joyfully serve (and hug and love and hold) my little guys. They quickly reach an age when they don't want to sit on my lap.

Following is a post that I had begun multiple times in my mind this past week, but now am finally having time to post. I do hope it is an encouragement to you.

A Worthwhile Pursuit

I would like to share with you a resource that Tom recently discovered. It is a plan to memorize the whole New Testament in five years! Wouldn’t that be a fabulous accomplishment?

I recently read the following quote: “A year from now you may wish you had started today.” Isn’t that telling? What do you wish you had begun (and stuck with) last January 1^st? Things like losing weight and becoming fit certainly do hold some value for this life. (It is good to stay fit in order to serve the Lord and our family as we best may)

I would propose though, that there are pursuits that hold greater value. Memorizing God’s Word is a pursuit with eternal significance, holding value for both today and for eternity.

Please don’t tell me that you “can’t memorize scripture,” or that you simply aren’t “smart” enough to attempt this. When our children were younger we began memorizing God’s Word with them, initially using a topical memory system. This was effective, but we soon decided to begin to memorize scripture in context, whole chapters at a time.

I was shocked to discover that not only could even our younger children could accomplish this (I'm talking two and three-year-olds!), but I could too! To put it nicely, scripture memory has always been a “challenge” for me…. Ok, I was terrible at scripture memory. I tried many different systems, but what we do now works!

Here’s how we do this. I simply use spiral-bound 3” x 5” index cards. (These can be purchased at Wal Mart or other office supply store. I usually put one, or sometimes two verses per page. Here's a picture of some of the past booklets that we have worked on.

This little scripture memory book usually follows me around all day. When we work together with the children, I try to make it fun. We like to make up actions for the significant words in each verse. Sometimes we use actual sign language for the words, but more frequently the children like to make up motions. It is amazing how putting motions to the words helps all of us remember the verses we are working on.

This, though, will be a new challenge for us. It requires memorizing about 5 verses/day. Here's a link to the page that tells how to go about this, plus it includes info on reading through the New Testament each month of the year. What do you think? Is anyone else up for the challenge? : )

I've already almost got my five verses for today memorized!