I was challenged this week. I’m hoping you will be too, after reading this.
Have you seen those funny bathroom signs “Just text if you need toilet paper…we know you’re on your phone”? I chuckle when I read them…while on my phone…in the bathroom. (Hey I’m a momma…sometimes you just have to hide.) But truth be told, it is the exception rather than the rule when I find someone waiting in an office, for a plane, riding in the car who is NOT using an electronic device. And those devices do usually go everywhere with us. The ability to ‘catch up’ and read a post, check on reactions, watch a funny video…they can be the few moments of ‘sanity’ we have between periods of insanity.
But this one time was an exception. I found someone waiting who put a piece of paper away when I began to talk to them…and offhandedly they said “Oh I’m just memorizing scripture. There’s a group of us who are challenging each other…” I went about my day after a very pleasant and uplifting conversation, but the idea stuck with me. (And if you’re reading this, thank you for this!).
Novel idea. Grown adults, memorizing scripture during spare time. I can’t say that I haven’t thought man I need to learn my Bible better but next thing I know I’ve run out of time in my twenty-four hour day but have caught up on my social media updates before flopping into bed. I am also the first to admit that I have NEVER been good at memorizing…but even I know that is my own lame excuse just like “I have no self-control.” I tell people all the time that these sort of things take practice so that they become habit.
So I’m going to do it. I’m going to dare you. And me. Put the phone down. Turn off the tablet. Mute the radio. Don’t even turn the TV on. Pick out a Bible verse. Write it down. Tape it to a mirror or dashboard. Repeat it. Repeat it. Repeat it. Tell it to a spouse. Share it with a friend or stranger as God leads. Don’t know where to start with a Bible verse? Consider borrowing inspirational verses from a Bible Promise book. How about a daily Bible verse calendar. Open the Psalms or Proverbs. Start memorizing an entire chapter in the books about Jesus (as written in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John). Open the Bible and point. Just start.
Now carry the verse with you everywhere you go. Start practicing it whenever you have a minute or two. (If you’ve saved it to your phone or tablet then this is where you would use your electronic device to prompt you when you’re stuck). Instead of using ‘down time’ for mindless activities, let’s use our minds and strengthen them. In the book of Matthew, chapter six and verse thirty-three it says “But seek first the kingdom of God”… Look up the rest of the verse…you know, maybe memorize it. But whatever we put our time toward the most is what we most become like.
Does anyone remember the early scenes in the movie “Seabiscuit” where the family gathers around the table for dinner and the dad quizzes his children on prose they’ve memorized? How about “Cheaper by the Dozen” (now I’m dating myself) where the dad determines that time in the bathroom is wasted time so he puts books of different languages in each bathroom so his 12 children will learn additional languages? What kind of people and homes and communities and churches would we have if we did this?
Thank you, again, un-named one who prompted this. How God has used you. Thank you for challenging me…
