A year ago, I came to the realization that I don’t have as much scripture memorized as I would like to. So much of what I learned as a child has slipped out of my brain over the years. We have been commanded to hide God’s words in our hearts and I wanted to do so.
But how? What would be the easiest way to dedicate time to learning and refreshing so I don’t forget? How do I be consistent in this?
The answer came to me in a place where all good answers come. The bathroom. The 30 seconds it takes to go is the optimal amount of time to read a verse or two. If you read the same thing 10 times a day for a week, chances are, you will have it memorized by the end of the week. Longer bathroom breaks make a wonderful time to refresh on past verses so you don’t forget them.
How To Choose
I think one of the hardest things to decide is where to start memorizing. Which of the 31,102 verses in the Bible is the most important?
The Internet is very helpful in this. You can type into a search engine, “best verses to memorize” and you will be bombarded with options. Pick a list and start at the top.
For me, I had recently heard several references to the armor of God and realized that I don’t actually know all the pieces to that armor, so I started there. I like order, and decided that the easiest way to continue this endeavor would be to continue on with a whole passage. After finishing Ephesians, I went to James. It felt reasonable to be able to memorize the whole book. Not too long, but long enough that I wouldn’t have to decide what’s next for a while.
Some other great places to start are the Psalms. Choose one that you love and memorize it. Then there are 149 more to choose from. Proverbs holds many good nuggets of wisdom. Romans has many wonderful gospel truths to memorize, to help you share with others.
If you have a child who is in a scripture memorization program, you can use whatever verse they are learning that week and make it a family activity!
How I Did It
I got an index card and a pretty colored pen and wrote out the verse(s) I wanted to work on that week. Then I put my index card on a shelf we have behind our toilet. The lid to the tank would also work wonderfully. Then comes the hard part.
I banned electronic devices from the bathroom. This is a crucial step. If you have the option of reading a verse or wasting time on your phone, your brain will choose to waste time on your phone every time.
The Buddy System
Finding a friend to memorize with is a wonderful way to stay accountable. It can be the people who live in your house with you, or a friend.
Trouble Shooting
As with most things in life, you start off gung ho, and as time goes on, enthusiasm starts to fade. These are some of the blocks I ran into, and how I overcame them.
The Next Card
When I began, I said that every Sunday I would write the next verses that I was going to work on through out the week. The problem is, I would forget. Then it would be later in the week and I would tell myself that it was too late for this week and I will try again the next. Then I would forget again.
To circumvent this, I sat down one day and wrote all of the rest of the book of James out so I would have them ready to go when I needed them. It took a while, but was, in my opinion, a valid use of time.
Being Tired
I did not account for the fact that I am tired while pregnant and would be more likely to stare off into space for a few moments than pick up my card. I am sure many people run into this problem even without being pregnant.
I am lucky enough that I have a nice shelf right behind my toilet that is at perfect eye level so I can take half a step to the right and read over the verses several times while I brush my teeth. This helps me to For whatever reason, to me that is less work than picking the card up when I go to the bathroom. For now that is what is working for me. There is the popular option of sticking it to the mirror as well, and if you want to, a dry erase marker can be used to write on a mirror.
There are so many different ways to do this, and I hope I was able to provide you with an idea that you think will work for you. The most important thing is to not give up! If what you are doing isn’t working, try something else. The key is for it to be somewhere that you can easily look at it, with nothing else to do. Give yourself grace, and be patient. It might take you two weeks to memorize a verse, or you might need smaller chunks than someone else. That is okay.
I hope you found this encouraging and have been inspired to start of get back to memorizing scripture. It is a wonderful thing to have the word of the Lord in your heart and on your mind.
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