Things so far are going surprising well. I have a strong grasp of all 28 verses that were assigned for this month and am continuing to go over them to increase my confidence. I'm pleased with my progress although I don't expect to keep up this pace. I was very excited and extremely motivated to get started, so I figured I'd get as many verses in the bank as I could while I still had the energy!
I was using a CD but was having difficulty because the guy read it much differently than I would. So I recorded my own voice reading the passage and that has been much more effective. I listen to it while I'm cooking or cleaning up.
I began with the goal of reading the passage aloud 50 times. That was working well but I got impatient and wanted to get to the real "memorizing" so I ended up straying from my initial plan. It takes several minutes to read the entire passage. There are times when I only have a brief moment to look over some of it but not enough consecutive minutes to read the entire thing. So during those times, I'm going verse-by-verse.
My Thoughts:
- "The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." All sorts of translations use different words for "understood". I got a little aggravated this week because I realized I've misunderstood this verse for years as a result of a poor translation. One would think this verse means that Jesus is the light shining in our dark world but the world doesn't understand who Jesus is. But that's not what the verse means. "Understood" is better translated as "Overcome". Therefore, the real meaning of the verse is that Jesus is the light of the world and sin and darkness has not and will not overcome His light.
- "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" gives me chills no matter how many times I read it. I don't even have words to discuss the significance of that verse.
- Being a mother of 4, I took notice of verse 12. "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." I was walking around the house Monday cleaning up and reciting some verses. I had my baby boy on my hip happily bopping along everywhere I went. When I got to the "children of God" part, I started thinking about how that baby is completely dependent upon me. He would be lost and eventually die without me. I provide for him everything that he needs and carry him with me everywhere. The Bible is telling me that I am God's child. What an honor! He is all I need and I should follow Him everywhere. It seems so simple - why do I choose to disobey and go my own way?
- I burned meatballs the other day because I was memorizing verses instead of watching them.
- I had to put a flashlight next to my bed so I can peek at the passage as I go over it in my mind before I go to sleep.
- Sometimes I wonder how on earth I'm going to memorize 879 verses considering there were multiple times this week when I found myself in a room and couldn't even remember why I was there.
- I flipped out on my husband this week (respectfully and submissively, of course) when he told me he was glancing at his verses while he was driving.
- I admit I get frustrated when he only works on his verses during his 20 minute commute and comes home knowing more than I do when I study them the entire day. Grr. Then I found myself telling my 6-year old not to compare herself to others when she could only remember 2 verses. I am a hypocrite indeed.
- All in all, this is fun so far. It's fun to recite so many verses in a row without making a mistake. I'm enjoying meditating on them throughout the day. I'm finding myself more spiritually-minded and less distracted by the world.
- I was amazed to hear our daughters fill-in-the-blanks when my husband and I practice and get stuck at certain parts. Those little ears sure do listen and soak everything in.
- "John Project" already had great success in memorizing the book of John (partly why I am so encouraged and know that it can indeed be done)! He has just begun memorizing the book of Mark. You can check out his blog to keep updated on how he's doing.
- I'm just so thankful for my mind and that God has given me the desire, energy, and strength to do this.
I can sure relate to what your going through. I know the feeling about being in a room and wondering what I am doing there and how am I going to memorize anything when I can't even remember what I am suppose to be doing.
ReplyDeleteAlso when you said "I flipped out on my husband this week (respectfully and submissively, of course )"
Sorry, I busted out laughing.
Sounds like the kids are going to have John memorized too,that's amazing!