If a child is able to recite the entire Where the Wild Things Are book while eating pancakes, he is ready to start memorizing Bible Verses.
Yesterday morning Charlie entertained me with a Wild Things monologue that finally opened my eyes to the fact that he is more than old enough to start memorizing Bible Verses. A while back I downloaded some great Bible Songs that play on his radio in his room, but to be honest, he's not in his room very much -- so we're going at it the old-fashioned (thought not yet very organized) way.
I flipped through my Bible until I found something that was a) short and b) understandable based on his as yet limited Biblical knowledge. To date Charlie knows that God created everything and is everywhere (made possible by the fact that He holds the world in His hand) and that Jesus loves him -- that's really all that I can confidently say he more-or-less understands.
So, clearly a bit sleepy yesterday morning on day 4 of Daddy's "field trip" to the Bahamas, Genesis 1:1 never crossed my mind, and we picked John 14:15, "If you love me, you will follow my commandments". And when asked, Charlie will tell you that if you love Jesus, "you listen to his rules." It's extremely important to me that he not only be able to repeat the verses, but also understand and explain what they mean -- so if any of you out there have any suggestions of additional shortish Bible Verses that stick to some pretty foundational truths, please send them my way!
Once he was able to recite the verse with the citation and explain its meaning, Charlie got to call Grandma, but not one to wait for someone to answer before he starts talking, Charlie was reciting away long before Grandpa had a chance to say hello. I'm not sure what I would do if I picked up the phone at 6:00 Sunday morning to hear a little voice reciting the Bible...I might hang up. Thank goodness for Caller ID!
So, next week we'll do Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God
created
the heavens and the earth," and by Christmas Charlie should know more verses than Mom & Dad combined. (Just kidding...we play to learn them with him, so we can keep up!)
