Every Monday in October, I plan to pop in and offer an update on my Mega Memory Month project. A “progress report,” if you will.You can, too.For Monday Progress Reports, I’ll try using Mr. Linky. Bloggers sign up by clicking on the Mr. Linky logo. Mr. Linky will automatically supply a line where you can fill out your name (or blog name) and another where you type or paste in the url of your Progress Report.
To see all the links and pay participants a visit, just click on the Mister Linky logo.If you have problems, just drop a note into the comments and let me know. Also, non-bloggers can participate by writing out their progress in the comments.It’s not to late! Jump in at any point this month and simply do what you can.Finally, this is not restricted to Scripture memory work, though I’m delighted to see that so many participants are choosing a long passage or chapter. You could memorize a poem, a famous speech (Gettysburg Address, anyone?), or the preamble to the Constitution.Just this weekend, my mom was able to rattle off a long chunk that follows “to be, or not to be” from Hamlet. And I heard her recite some lines from a poem at some point in the afternoon.Please feel free to choose something other than a passage from Scripture, if you would like to.So here’s my progress report.To launch MMM, I printed off John 14, cut it up into chunks, and taped those chunks onto 3×5 cards held together by a blue bread bag tie.
This weekend, some of the kids and I were walking along a sidewalk, and one of the kids stopped and picked up something shiny.”Look, Mom! It’s a little ring!”I imagined she would hold up a ring that one would wear on a finger, but guess what? It was exactly the kind of ring I needed for my memory cards in just the right size:
She gladly handed it over to me. I slipped it on my memory cards and tossed the blue bread tie in the trash can, instantly upgrading my memory tool.Fortunately, John 14 contains several familiar verses, so instead of starting from scratch, the memorization is more about piecing it all together, adding in the unfamiliar parts.I’ll just try typing out what I think I know at this point. I’ll go back and highlight what I goofed up on (I’ll correct in red, like my high school English teacher. And my editor. And the guy I worked for right out of college).
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.“Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father, as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.“Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”Jesus answered, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do more than these things even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. Ask me anything you wish And I will do whatever you ask in my name, and I will do it so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Techniques Used:
- Read the cards through several times.
- Repeated phrase by phrase until I had each phrase correct.
- Tried to memorize the transition word or the first word of each sentence. Sometimes something had a natural rhythm (“Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work” had a rhythm and a rhyme).
- I said it out loud a lot.
- Had the kids test me to be word perfect. They had to stop me if I got a single word wrong.
- I tried drawing pictures, but that didn’t seem to help much. I think I’m very auditory.
- I tried to do hand motions, but that didn’t seem to help much, either.
- Next step: I plan to use my MP3 to record one of the kids reading it out loud this week. I tried the memo feature on my phone, but it didn’t have enough space to record much more than a sentence or two. With the MP3, I can listen numerous times, which will help an auditory gal like me.
I got a lot farther than I thought I could. I was surprised. Pleasantly surprised.But there are a lot more verses ahead of me. So I must be careful not to get too confident and of course we must all resist being “puffed up” by success.So I’m grateful — very grateful — that my mind is capable of any of this.Looking forward to your reports!
Does talking to oneself over and over about something count? : )
I have a problem with memorizing. It’s just stinking hard for me. Last summer when I had to memorize some stuff for a Beth Moore Bible study, I worked really hard at it. Carried my cards around on every walk I took. It took me all summer, but I finally did it. Guess what? I can’t say it any more. Oh well. I decided I ‘marinate’ on the scripture and it is in there somewhere. I will leave it to the Holy Spirit to give it to me when I need it. I just want the people that say they can’t to work on it any way, marinating on God’s word has to be a good thing (:
L.L. Barkat: Sure, why not!
Pam: What an inspiration–that it took you all summer, but you did it!
And you’ve also given us a great reminder –even if it doesn’t “stick,” God can’t use it while we’re marinating…and that it’s in there somewhere.
Good stuff! Thanks, Pam.
I mean God CAN use it!
Great job, Ann! I’m only a couple verses into my selection, but I think I have them down pat. Pictures and hand motions don’t help me either but saying the verses aloud, picturing my notecards as I recite them, and looking for that rhythm are all helping.
I think I’m going to do some recordings too — I have a feeling that will really help them stick.
LOVE this challenge, but we are going through a major family crisis right now. We ARE currently working on memorizing Psalm 23 right now (from NIRV – love that kids version!) as a family though. Perhaps soon I can blog about that. Thanks for the mention, btw. Did you ever find Janet Pope’s book?
Well, we are just getting started, but I finally posted my update this morning. We are excited about this challenge…it’s neat to see how God provides encouragement along the way when He leads us to do something, and that is what this challenge has been for us!
I’m also so glad to have found your blog! I am really enjoying reading back through your archives a little at a time. I especially needed your “Quiet Time Round-Up” post right now…not only for myself, but in trying to work my children (including my non-reader and my fledgling reader) into individual quiet times. Great ideas there!
I also love the fact that you have an entire blog category labeled “Nutella”. 😀 Yum!
We are memorizing a longer parable as a family. We read through all the parables in Matthew’s gospel and together chose Matthew 20:1-16, the parable of the workers in the vineyard. We’re reading it through a couple of times a day and are making progress. I’ll be linking; thanks for the accountability!
Jennifer
Ann… I’m so grateful for this accountability… I’m studying Unio Mystica … latin for the mystical union … and He was so fully present to me within 2 Peter 3-11 this morning … the mist fell over me so powerfully mid text @ cleansing from her past sins. Resting in His word is my monsoon… my wash filled with fresh cool streams of cleansing poured forth from my dear Catalinas …all surrounding my dwelling.
“God has made us for Himself and our hearts are restless until we find our rest in him”
Saint Augustine
Thanks for the comment. Our little September competition was providing some accountability for me to keep pushing along. Now that that’s over, I think your blog may be just the pick up I need to keep going through Ephesians.
One thing that helps me is out loud reciting in whatever spare moments I can find. If I try to review it all in my head I get bogged down more easily with other thoughts and my mind can start to wander, but when I speak the verses, the rhythm of the speech helps carry me through the passage. I try to recite Ephesians 1 on the way to the grocery store and Ephesians 2 on the way back. I have my cards laminated, and I have done some reciting in the shower and while getting ready for my day.