As I went out a-yard-saling a few Saturdays ago, I heard Chip Ingram on the air extolling the benefits of scripture memorization in his own life.  (I like his program, Living on the Edge…very practical.) 

It struck me as one of the easier spiritual disciplines, at least for me, as I have always been good at memorization.  The idea’s been rolling around in my mind ever since, but I’ve barely fit in a few moments to go over one scripture passage in all that time. 

That’s when it hit me:  We all make time for what we love to do.  For instance, I always seem to make time to blog.  Why not associate scripture memorization with blogging?

So, by fiat of the proprietress (moi), before I connect to the internet to post anything in this space, I have to come with a new scripture verse memorized.  Long or short; it doesn’t matter.  “Jesus wept” doesn’t count, as I memorized that around age three.  John 3:16 is also a given.  Any other verse counts, even if I’ve had it memorized for thirty years.  I’ll be relearning them from the English Standard Version (ESV).

Oh yes, and including the reference.  I know, gentle reader, you are saying “Of course!” but references are always hardest for me to remember.  I’m a verbal person and tend to gloss over numbers.  I always figured, “The Scriptures didn’t originally come with references.  Why do I need ‘em?”  But, it’s a little difficult to find one’s place again in all those sixty-six books without them.  So, references too.

I’ll post my memory verses in my brand-new, aptly named category:  “Memory Verses.”  It will serve as a nice place to review after I have a few “hidden in my heart.”

Ready...set...go!