Fightin' Words

Kids earn trophies for all sorts of accomplishments: horseback riding, Little League, academics, even baton-twirling. I have earned exactly one trophy in my life, and that one was for memorizing Bible verses. As a child I participated in an AWANA program and earned the Timothy award, based on 2 Timothy 2:15:

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed – AWANA, get it?

I never was quite sure how to pronounce the word shew.

We talked, in last week's women's Sunday School class, about the value of the practice of memorization. As a former Bible verse memory nerd, I started thinking about the ways this practice shaped my early understanding of Scripture. One of the things I thought about was this: I wonder how much of my understanding of certain Scripture passages was formed when I memorized them as a child. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful to have been taught God’s word from a young age. I’m thankful that I still remember verses I learned as a child, or at least snippets of verses. Most of them, I still remember in the King James.

Consider this verse, about the value of memorizing Scripture:

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Psalm 119:11, KJV

For as long as I can remember, I’ve accepted as fact the idea that memorizing Bible verses would keep me from sinning.

I’m wondering how my childhood brain might have imagined that would work.

Maybe I assumed that if I memorized Scripture it would act like an immunization, inoculating me against sin.

Or perhaps I thought Bible memorization would create in my head a database of right and wrong.  If, for example, I found myself tempted to knock over a liquor store, I could simply consult my memory to see whether or not armed robbery was on the naughty list. If I found it was, then obviously I would decide against doing any such a thing.

Or maybe I thought the power of Scripture memory would act something like Captain America’s shield. When temptations came my way, the verses I had stored in my heart would deflect them away.

I’ve been thinking lately about the particular sins that have a tendency to trip me up, wondering how hiding God’s word might actually keep me from falling face-first into them. Knocking over liquor stores doesn’t really hold as much appeal for me as one might suspect. My pet sins tend more along the lines of worry, fear, unbelief, and doubt that God really does love me.

I’m tempted to believe that God is not good, or that my situation exceeds His ability, or that He won’t do what He promised. Most often, the temptation toward those kinds of thoughts comes to me in the dark of night when I don’t have a Scofield Reference Bible at the ready. Or a Geneva Study Bible. Or any other version that might help me beat back the lies and temptations which assault me in the middle of the night.

The only way I know how to do battle against that kind of temptation is the same way Jesus did, by using every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Assuming I have those words handy when I need them. Assuming I’ve allowed the word of Christ to dwell in me richly.

It’s been many years since I’ve given serious thought to the practice of memorization. And, I suspect I’ll find it much more difficult than I did when I was a child. But I’m thinking it may be time for me to pick it back up again.

Even if there are no trophies at stake.

Considering the practice of memorization? Here are several useful tools:

Ann Voskamp’s Scripture memory cards for the book of Colossians

Ann Voskamp’s Scripture memory cards for The Sermon on the Mount

Laura Boggess’s Scripture memory cards for the book of James

Linking with Michelle @ Graceful:

And with Jen and the sisterhood @ Finding Heaven:

A Curiosity Journal

My friend Ann Kroeker posts a weekly curiosity journal to recap her week. She uses the tag words: reading, playing, learning, reacting, and writing to shape her posts. For some time I’ve thought about joining Ann, especially since my primary blogging strategy has been to find people who seem to know what they’re doing and then imitate them. Also, my writing well has felt a little dry lately. So here goes:

Reading

I’ve always been one of those people who is reading multiple books at the same time. Now that I have a Kindle and can download books at the push of a button, my habits seem to have gotten much worse.

After hearing many, many, many of my friends recommend Grace for the Good Girl: Letting Go of the Try-Hard Life, by Emily P. Freeman; I’ve finally gotten around to reading it. So far, the only thing I don’t like about this book is that Emily didn’t write it thirty years ago. I’m planning to write a review or maybe a series of posts about Emily’s book when I finish it. I’ve highlighted so many passages; however, I’ll probably end up re-reading the entire book when reviewing my notes. One particular passage I’m mulling is Emily’s reflection on the lives of Mary and Martha. She wrote:

Martha’s desire to please clouded her willingness to trust. . . . Given the choice to please God or to trust God, good girls become conflicted. We know we’re supposed to trust God, but trust is so intangible. It almost seems passive in the face of all there is to do.

Emily’s words read like she’s been living inside my head. Or my heart. Oh, and at the beginning of chapter twelve, Emily admits she never liked the phrase quiet time all that much. I think she really is a kindred spirit.

I’m also reading The Dancing Priest, a novel by Glynn Young. I postponed starting this one, again after reading many, many, many recommendations. Some folks said they started reading this book and couldn’t put it down it. I keep putting it down, savoring it. I’m thoroughly enjoying this story and don’t want it to come to an end.

I downloaded and started reading The Jesus Creed, by Scot McKnight. I kept seeing references to this book, and then I learned that McKnight is a professor at North Park University where my son goes to school. After I started reading The Jesus Creed, I saw a reference to it by Ann Voskamp. I figure, any day I’m on the same page as Ann Voskamp has got to be a good day.

Playing

Alumni Chapel. Photo by Tamara Gerhard

Most of the playing I’ve done lately, I’ve done vicariously. My son just returned to college after having been home for four weeks for Christmas break. During that time he played piano with some of his buddies during an alumni chapel at his former school, attended a New Year’s Eve swing dance party, went ice skating, attended a dinner party for which all the guests dressed up, and got together with former youth group members to play and record hymns and praise music. I sat back and watched these young people interact, delighting in each one and growing in gratitude for these friendships in my son's life.

I'm also thinking, maybe my writing well wouldn't feel so dry if I did some playing of my own.

Learning

I’m working my way through another book, an E-book by Sharon Hujik titled, How to Move From Blogger to WordPress. I’m learning, or threatening to learn, about all sorts of interesting things like File Transfer Protocols, DNS Servers, and CHMOD.

At one point the instructions read: “If you make a mistake here, you will lose access to your blog.”

If you notice my blog’s gone missing, assume I didn’t follow the instructions. Or have been raptured. Even if I destroy my blog, I figure I will have learned something. And I can always start over, right? I’m actually kind of jazzed about playing around with this stuff, and maybe engaging my brain in this way will help me fight off dementia somewhere down the road. Or maybe I’m just playing around with this technical stuff because right now it seems easier than writing.

I’ve been talking to some folks about helping me with some site design stuff. They’re good folks, and I hope I get to introduce you to them soon. I just need to earn a few more dollars first. In the meantime I may play around on my current site, rearranging the furniture a bit.

Reacting

It got cold and finally snowed for the first time since the freak storm back in October. I’m not reacting well. Also, my Christmas tree is still up. Don’t judge me. I don’t react well to the transition from the joy and beauty of Christmas to the cold and gray of January.

Writing

See above sections on playing and learning. Have I mentioned my well’s a little dry? Anyone interested in guest posting?

I know that writing helps me write, and I took a long break from doing so while my son was at home. I don't regret my decision to take time off, but I'm finding it awfully difficult to get back in the rhythm of writing.

So there you have it: my first ever Curiosity Journal. And a completed blog post.

Let me know your suggestions for when the writing well runs dry. Or your gears get rusty. Or whatever overworked metaphor for getting your butt back in the chair and starting over works for you. Maybe I’ll try some of them.

You know, if I don’t blow up my blog.