Callapidder Days

C. and I are really enjoying our read through The Mysterious Benedict Society, a book about four children engaged in secret mission to fight evil. I get a particular kick out of one of the characters: S.Q. Pedalian. S.Q. is not a major character but he pops up here and there and has a delightful way of mixing metaphors, confusing his cliches, and making up entirely new words, all in the course of a conversation.

At one point, S.Q. asks two of the main characters how they were doing so well on their tests. One replied that he was good at remembering things; the other said that he just tries really hard.

S.Q. looked as if this was just what he’d suspected. “Rememberingness and effortfulness, both fine qualities.”

Waaay back in high school and college, I was pretty good at rememberingness and effortfulness, too. I could cram for tests at the last minute and somehow still manage to imprint all my notes directly onto my brain. And I did try hard — I wanted to do well, and I suppose it didn’t hurt that I’m a teeny bit competitive in some areas.

But since those days of youth, while my effortfulness comes and goes, my rememberingness seems to be just about shot. Oh, I can pull random facts out of the past, such as the phone number I had growing up or my high school locker combination.

But if I come across a fact today that I really and truly need to, you know, remember, I have to write it down. There is no guarantee that a day of changing diapers, reading blog posts, cooking dinner, removing cat puke from the carpet, and paying bills won’t drive every other detail out of my mind.

My pens and notebooks are my friends. They help me function.

While pen and paper are fine for helping me remember appointments, phone numbers, and funny things my kids say, there is an area where I’d like to go beyond the paper and work on my rememberingness: Bible memorization.

In college, I actually had a system. I was memorizing several Bible verses per week, I kept a file box of 3×5 cards containing the verses I was working on, and I faithfully reviewed my verses each week, so that they wouldn’t slip out of my brain when I wasn’t looking. But in the many years since college, I have to admit, I’ve let the habit discipline of memorizing God’s word slip away.

Oh, I’ve memorized verses here and there for Bible studies I was involved in. And I’m thankful that C.(9) has a memory verse each week at school — I often learn verses right along with him (though I admit I don’t faithfully review them).

But I haven’t implemented a specific, intentional plan for memorizing a portion of the Bible in years. Even though I know there are many concrete benefits to doing so (see John Piper’s article for a glimpse of these benefits).

Enter Ann Kroeker‘s Mega Memory Month challenge. I love Ann’s blog — it’s definitely a “thinky” blog and she always leaves me pondering something. Lately, she’s been talking about memorization and has decided to host a “month-long memorization extravaganza” during October.

Participating is simple: Pick something to memorize (something that, to you, would be mega), post about it on your blog, and let Ann know over at the main Mega Memory Month post.

Oh — and then start memorizing! See Ann’s blog for more details.

Ann’s challenge was just the motivation I needed. Remember that competitiveness I mentioned? Competing against myself to see if I can meet a challenge definitely counts.

So during October, my goal is to memorize Romans 12 and 1 John 1. The two chapters have a combined 31 verses, which might not be mega for some people, but for someone whose rememberingness has taken a serious tumble, I think it will be a stretch. It’s not impossible, but it’ll take some serious….effortfulness.

But wait…there’s more!

When I told my 9-year-old son, C., about Mega Memory Month, he decided he would join us as well. His goal is to memorize 1 Corinthians 13, as much of it as he can. He already does one verse per week for school, so I was impressed that he wanted to take on more. If you stop by our house, don’t be surprised if you see index cards with our work-in-progress written on them.

If you are feeling up to a memorization challenge, just click the graphic in this post or in my sidebar and it’ll take you to Ann’s post about Mega Memory Month. And be sure to check out all her posts on memorization; she includes links to some fantastic memorizing resources.