No More Excuses

This post is by Tami Rodriguez. 

We all know that memorizing and treasuring God’s Word is so important. In Psalm 119 it says, “Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies” (Psalm 119:98) and, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11). 

As a mom of 5 and now a grandma of 1, I think it’s interesting that we are usually quite diligent in helping our children memorize Scripture but when it comes to memorizing it for ourselves…we are generally full of excuses! Most Christian moms I know have their kids involved in Awana, Sunday School or even just family devotions and study where they help their kids memorize Scripture. When my kids were younger we memorized all of Psalm 24 and there is nothing cuter than a three year old saying, “and vindication from the God of our salvation”! 

I remember often talking with other moms about how fast kids can memorize! It’s mind blowing really. Inevitably the talk would turn to how we just couldn’t memorize like that. Lots of, “I’m just not good at that” or “I’ve never been able to memorize”. But one day I realized that really is just an excuse. Sorry for the small gut punch of guilt there but it’s true. 

Most of us absolutely CAN memorize the Word we just choose not to. Ouch. But I will soften the blow and say I do think it’s harder as we get older. Women often have 8000 tabs open in their brain. It can feel like we just can’t possibly remember one more thing. It’s also hard to find a simple way to consistently practice and review what we’re trying to memorize. Often we have great intentions and then it just gets lost in the busyness of life. 

Many years ago I discovered a system from a homeschool group called Simply Charlotte Mason that changed how we memorized Scripture. We still use it today and I plan to continue it when my kids are all grown and out of the house. It’s an easy system that uses 3x5 cards and a small card box with dividers. In your box you will have the following dividers: Daily, Odd, Even, each day of the week and numbered dividers 1-31 in that order. Starting day one you will write what you are memorizing on a 3x5 card and put it behind the Daily divider. Practice it daily. Once you think you have it, move it one step back to the Odd divider. Now pick a new verse and put it in your Daily section. Going forward you will now review your daily verse and on odd days you will review the one you placed there. You will continue this practice of moving each card back one step as you memorize a new one.

Let me give you an example of where we are now using this system. Say today is Thursday, May 15. We will review our Daily verse, because it’s the 15th we will review what’s behind the Odd section, then Thursday and then the number 15. So on this day we would review 3 old verses and continue to work on the new one. It truly takes as little as 5 minutes everyday. It’s amazing how much we have all learned and memorized. We have also used this system to review things like the books of the Bible, the Lord’s Prayer, the 10 Commandments and more. If we ever memorize something “accidently” by learning it from a song or story we will then add that to our box to review so we don’t forget. 

This is a great family activity—do it every night at the dinner table. Try it with breakfast before everyone runs out the door. Whatever you do, just try it!! 

Tami Rodriguez has been married to her high school sweetheart for 31 years and has 5 children, two lovely daughters in law and a new granddaughter! She has homeschooled for 22 years and still has 3 more to go...send coffee! Tami is a lifelong learner who loves to study God’s Word and share with others whenever given the opportunity.  You can find her living life as “just a mom who likes to write” over on instagram@rodfamily007.

Photo by Kate Trysh on Unsplash