One of the things that we started this summer was bible memorization as a family. We decided that, since Ben is going to public school, that we need to be a whole lot more intentional about teaching Ben about our faith. Had we sent him to the private Christian school, that would have been part of the curriculum. Plus, bible memorization is not my forte, so I was looking forward to learning them as well.
We purchased the Foundation Verse Pack from John Piper's website. I like that there's a picture on one side and a verse on the other, so if they see the picture, they can recall what the verse is about. However, I was a little hesitant about it before we started. See, Ben and I can be like oil and water sometimes, particularly when I am trying to teach him something, so I was thinking that he'd fight me tooth and nail in trying to get us to memorize these verses. And I was also a little worried that Caroline was a little too young for it. However, she is excellent at memorizing song lyrics and we have a CD with bible verses set to music and she knows those, so I had hope that she'd be able to do at least a few.
Well, it has exceeded my expectations! I have been so surprised and delighted that my children genuinely like the challenge of memorizing the verses and are so proud of themselves after they do it! I sometimes have to give them a little nudge with the beginning of the verse or the reference (particularly Caroline). They have memorized (in order):
-Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth"
-Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters"
-Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the LORD with all of your heart and do not lean on your own understanding"
-Psalm 1:6 "The LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish"
-Isaiah 30:15 "In quietness and in trust shall be your strength"
Do they understand what they all mean? Not really, except perhaps for Genesis 1:1. But will these verses be accessible to them for probably the rest of their life? Hopefully! It showed me too how I've underestimated what my kids are capable of.
*In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that I do sometimes reward them with candy if they recite their verses to me, which made the eagerness quotient much higher than it otherwise would have been :) However, they will recite them all and not expect candy these days!
2 comments:
We've been trying to do family scripture memory, too! I should look at those cards for suggestions. We've picked out assorted verses and practiced them at dinner - everybody takes a turn making up a motion for one of the key words and we all learn it together. It gets a little silly sometimes, but it's been very cool to see the kids remember. And it's helped me remember verses as well.
Love that idea of doing a motion, Deborah! The cards have little pictures on them as reminders, though we don't often use them.
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