Week 5--Scripture Memorization

Contemplations

I am exhausted. There's just no other way to say it. It's been a busy, chaotic week, though I feel like I didn't accomplish very much. The truth is that I accomplished much: my kids received three meals each day, I hugged owies away, I washed a TON of laundry (not put away), worked on some new Near to Nothing recipes, and potty-trained. Oh yeah, and I cleaned up a lot of pee. Yes, I am potty-training April at 18 months. It's going very well, but it is draining. But that's another story. All this to say, I am tired. To top it off, Robbie is gone this weekend on men's retreat. He's going to receive my most enthusiastic greeting yet when he gets home!

Anyway, as I was in the middle of this crazy week, I was struck by how blessed I am to be a wife and mother and be called to this life. I was brushing someone's teeth when I just had to silently thank God that, though much of my life would be considered "mundane," I am able to glorify God through ALL that I do. "So, whether you eat or drink [or clean up pee], or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31

Habits in Progress

1. Scripture Saturation: I'm still only about 2 1/2 days behind! Hoping to get a head start on February before Wednesday.
2. Toy Pick-Up Time: Going well! Even when Robbie was gone, I was mostly able to keep all the toys picked up.
3. A Hug and a Kiss: Loving it! And can't wait for him to come home (any minute now!)!
4. Water: This habit has been extremely easy to incorporate into my daily routine. Since I attached it with something I regularly do (eating) it does not get neglected. I have surprisingly found that, by drinking more water, I want to drink more. I often find myself going back for a partial glass between meals or before bed.

This Week's One New Habit

As I mentioned in my first post about spending more time in God's Word, I am taking Women's DTP at church. One of our assignments for each class is to memorize Scripture. My goal for the remainder of DTP is to start my memorization right away so I have two weeks to let it marinate in my mind. I want to not only be able to regurgitate, but to understand and live the verses I am learning. I want my mind to be so familiar with Scripture that it spills out of my mouth (especially when talking to my children).

My method for this I got from my friend Stephanie who is also taking DTP. She told me that she puts her verses in zip-top bags and sticks them to the shower wall. I started doing this last quarter, but not as faithfully as I should have. One unexpected benefit of doing this is that Keanna has started to learn some of my verses! One day she recited Romans 5:1 to me: "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." I didn't realize she was reading them!

So, I hereby resolve to start my Scripture memorization immediately after each DTP class, that the Word of God would saturate my mind, transform my heart, and overflow out of my lips.

What Is One New Habit?

It's the beginning of January, which mean resolutions and a metaphorical clean slate. But I don't think I've ever really made a New Year's resolution. All year long I am thinking about ways I need to grow as a child of God, be a better wife, love my children more, manage my household more efficiently, take care of my own physical needs, be a better steward of what God's given me.

In the past I've come up with big picture goals, plans, and schedules, only to become overwhelmed after the first few days. I've decided to give up on making a lot of changes all at the same time, because I always end up making little or no change. Instead, I will attempt to make small changes, one at a time. Each week in 2012, I will add a new habit to my routine, hoping that the gradual introduction to change will be less overwhelming and more doable. Not only will I be making changes, but I will be publicly writing about them so as to have accountability and motivation to keep up those changes.

As I am already a very busy women, I will keep the posts to one or two per week. I don't want this endeavor, which is meant to grow me and bring organization to my life, to consume my time such that I am undoing any of the good it is accomplishing. And I most likely will not be proofreading any of this. Ah!! The horror! Those of you who know me well, know that that is way out of my character.

Seeing as this is the first week of the year, I think a good place to start would be with a spiritual habit. Given my busy life with a husband, four children ages seven and younger, a house, church activities, my other blog, my cake business, and everything else life throws at me, my time in God's Word has been on a roller coaster over the last few years. I want that to change because "all Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16). I actually resolved to do this a few months ago while reading out of Donald S. Whitney's Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. If you have not read this book, I highly recommend it. But be forewarned, it is very convicting.

On a side note, I was reading Whitney as an assignment for my Women's Discipleship Training Program (Women's DTP) at church, Grace Bible Church of Pleasant Hill. For those of you who attend Grace, I cannot urge you enough to take this class!!

To bring some order to my Bible reading, I stopped by the church library and picked up a reading plan (they're free!). You can find reading plans online and even in the front or back of some Bibles. The Grace bookstore carries two: M'Cheyne's Calendar for Daily Bible Reading and The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan. They both have readings from four different passages each day. I decided on the latter because there are 25 readings each month rather than 30 or 31.

"But that encourages you to be lazy!" Possibly, but for this point in my life, it's a more realistic expectation. There are those days when all the kids are extra needy, one of the appliances gives out, we have doctor appointments, and Robbie gets hung up at work late. Life with young children does not get lived by a calendar, but by lovingly, graciously, and sacrificially loving each one of them every moment of the day.

I think part of the reason (other than sin) I go through periods when my time in the Word is neglected or minimal is that I am a perfectionist. Looking at my house, you'd never think so, but that's the problem. If I can't do a job completely, I tend not to do it. For some reason I've had this idea in my mind that my time with God's Word needs to be completely focused and completed in one quality sitting. While that is desirable, it's an unrealistic expectation for this time in my life. I finally realized that a few shorter times in the Bible were much better than attempting to get in one long time. So I read a little while the kids are eating their breakfast. I read a Psalm while I'm on hold on the phone. I read a passage while I'm waiting for the pasta water to boil. And that seems to be making all the difference.

So, I hereby resolve to saturate my heart and my mind with the Word of God by consistently spending time in it, understanding that life will throw in some interruptions, but never using those interruptions as an excuse.