MMM Monday Progress Report: Week 2

Keep at it, friends!

Don’t give up!

You can do it, yes, you can! — Go Team!

Gimme an “M”!

Gimme another “M”!

Gimme another “M”!

What’s that spell, er, wait a minute. I guess, “What’s that stand for?”

Mega Memory Month!

I just needed a little boost, and I thought an MMM cheer squad would be just the ticket.Is it just me, or is it getting harder to memorize as the month goes along?Those first few verses weren’t so bad, but now. Wow, now it’s starting to get longer. Words and phrases are repeated with slight variation and I have to remember which ones come in what order. Sometimes Jesus says, “the Father” and sometimes He says, “my Father.”Plus, I misplaced my pack of cards for a few days.Once they were gone, I realized how much I was visualizing the text on the cards. I would picture where I was on the card and could “see” the line breaks, periods and quotation marks. I think I even mentally “flipped” the cards when I advanced to the next section.Fortunately the cards turned up under a stack of papers (relieved sigh).To deal with some mental hiccups in my memory work, I used an idea from Ruthy:  “prompterizing,” as she calls it (this is the explanatory link she provided, taking you to Wordkeeping.com).Turns out it’s the same idea that I posted on the Master Memorization Tips & Techniques post.John 14:13-14 (NIV) would look like this after I’m done “prompterizing” it:AIwdwyaimn, sttSmbgttF.Ymamfaimn, aIwdi.When I wrote it out by hand, I left a bit of space in between each letter. Those particular verses trip me up every time, so I needed another memorization technique to help it stick.I think it helped a little. But I’m still messing it up.And I don’t know if I’m going to make it all the way through John 14 by the end of October, but I’m further along than I ever would have been if I weren’t doing MMM with you excellent folks. So I have you to thank for jumping in and joining me in this challenge.Speaking of you excellent folks, here’s Mr. Linky to post your own Progress Report links:

 I’d also like to offer some online motivation for memorizing:

MMM Motivation

• If you haven’t already read Ann Voskamp’s MMM introduction post, please pop over. Not only does she include quotations from others that make me pause for thought, she also composes her own ideas in that poetic and contemplative tone that makes me want to slip up to a quiet place and pray, read, think, and work diligently on committing my selected passage to heart.
• This article by John Piper is entitled quite simply, “Why Memorize Scripture?” Hat tip to Angela at Drawing Nearer for providing the original link.
• Ray Fowler describes how he and his sons are working memorizing James using the “stacking method.” He says this is the same method Janet Pope describes in her book, His Word in My Heart (which I haven’t yet purchased). According to her website, Janet Pope has memorized 120 chapters of Scripture, including 14 books of the Bible.
• Ray also included a link to an article by John Place, and that was worth a quick visit. Place claims to have memorized 23,000 words of a textbook. The method seems pretty straightforward.
• Jennifer at Scraps & Snippets chose not only a passage of Scripture but also a poem to work on with her kids. Educator Andrew Pudewa inspired her to do so with this article. 
• Three reasons to memorize Scripture.

And now, I shall attempt to type out John 14 from memory, with no quick brush-up peeks at my cards. I haven’t seen them for hours.

“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[oops–no comma], 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 [that] the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is my [should be “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 even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me [for] anything in my name, and I will do it.If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask my [the] Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever–the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.Before long, the world will not see me anymore; [should be a comma] but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live…….[blank stare]……[have no idea what’s next]….

Well, four more cards. I don’t know if I’ll get all the way through.But I’ll keep going, yes, I will. Gimme a “J”! Gimme an “O”! Gimme an “H”! Gimme an “N”!What’s that spell?”JOHN!”John 14!Go, Ann, go!Now have your kids or a friend do a little cheer for you, because you can do it, yes you can!