My Little Siestas

"Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."

- Psalm 119:11

This is one of my favorite Scriptures. I memorized it when I was about 9 years old and it's stayed with me. I love the promise of this Scripture.

Throughout most of my schooling, I attended Christian schools. I'm thankful for the education I received from a God-centered perspective. Of course, since there were human beings involved, ;o) there are good and bad points about all of the schools I attended. Now, when I was a student, one of the bad points, or so I thought, was the amount of Scripture I was required to memorize, especially 'cause my dad was the Bible teacher and a stickler about the King James version being the only way to memorize complete with proper emphasis, moderate understanding and correct punctuation! "No excuses!" , he would say. "Excuses are nothing more than lies covered with the thin skin of a reason." I have nightmares about those lectures! Oish. :o)

Now that I'm a bit older and wiser... ;o)- I've been very thankful on more than a few occasions for the amount of Scripture I was required to learn. God's Word hidden away in my heart has been something I've drawn from in the midst of battles and celebrations alike. So, I started a tradition this year with my two youngest girls. It's called the Siesta Scripture Memory Team.

Abbi's notebook!

If you're unfamiliar with the Ladies' Bible Study world, there's a certain gal by the name of Beth Moore who's become a pretty popular writer and teacher of Ladies' Bible Studies and she just so happens to have a blog community she affectionately refers to as 'Siestaville'. She challenged her group of readers and whoever else would like to join to memorize two Scriptures a month for one full year. That's 24 Scriptures if you were wondering. ;o)

Initially, I invited Abbi (my 9 year old) to do it with me, kind of a 'momma and me' activity. Well......... ahem...... when Chloe (my 7 year old) found out what we were up to, she let me know (in a hurry) she was not happy that she hadn't been included! So, I relented and we used the first verse as a trial run for her. If I can just brag on her for a moment... ;o) she can whip out 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 with the best of 'em!

The three of us have had a great time memorizing these verses and holding each other accountable to the correct recollection of said verses (particularly when Momma makes a mistake ;o). In the interests of all things being honest and truthful... I must admit, we are in a teensy bit of a rut the last couple of weeks due to the 'end of summer' slump. ;o) However, with school just around the corner, we are getting back on track and will finish strong with all our 24 verses! 

The kicker? Beth Moore is hosting a conference in January 2012 for all the folks who make it the whole year through memorizing at least 22 verses! Yippee! The girls and I are so excited and already planning our getaway! What could be more fun? ;o)

Learning to memorize God's Word is something I know my girls will draw from for the rest of their lives and I'm blessed to have a part in their experiencing the fullness of the riches of God's Word, definitely a 'perk' in the job of motherhood. ;o) He's so faithful and someday, they'll know it like I do... :o)