HOW TO MEMORIZE EASILY –  AND NOT FORGET

“And these words which I command you this day shall be in your heart.” Dt.6:6

1. Buy a small box that will hold 3x5 or 4x6 cards (your choice of size), plus a set of cards to go in it. Also buy packs of dividers until you have at least 40. 

2. Turn your dividers over, or cover whatever is on them with small pieces of masking tape or blank self-stick labels. Mark them as follows: Current, Odd, Even, Sun., Mon., Tues., Wed., Thurs., Fri., Sat., 1, 2, 3, … 30.

3. Choose a time of day when you can work on memorizing consistently without skipping days. Les and I do it together. If you have children, we suggest you do it as a family with those of your children who are able to cope.

4. Choose a verse to memorize. We suggest choosing a verse that is practical and that will encourage you/your children to do what is right in circumstances that you/they are facing. (You may want to memorize a few verses together that complete a thought.)

5. Write your verse’s reference on the top line of a card, and write out the verse(s) underneath it. Then stick it in front of the “current” tab. Try to memorize a phrase or two each day – however much is easy for you – by repeating the phrases a few times at the beginning and end of your memorizing session. Some may memorize faster than others. Be patient until all have mastered the verse(s).

6. When you feel you have it memorized, move it in front of the “odd” tab. Choose a new verse(s), write it(them) on a different card, and stick it in front of the “current” tab.

7. Each time you finish memorizing a verse, move it to the “odd” tab, move whatever is in the “odd” tab back to the “even” tab, whatever is in the “even” tab back to the “Sunday” tab, etc. When you get to the days of the month, you do not need to keep moving the monthly verses backwards, just stick whatever you had in Saturday’s tab into the next available monthly slot. When you have filled all the monthly slots, then start adding a second verse to your monthly slots.

8. Each day work on learning your current verse, and review any verses you have already memorized that are in the “odd” or “even” tabs, depending on if it is an odd or even day of the month. Then review the verse that is in the relevant day of the week, and then review the verse(s) that is in the relevant day of the month. For example, on Wednesday, November 7, 2018, you would try to recite the current verse, the “odd” verse, the “Wednesday” verse, and the “7” verse(s).

9. If you get off-track, don’t get discouraged, just review and get yourself back on track. This has happened to us a few times, especially when travelling. Once, when travelling in Zimbabwe, we never reviewed our verses for 2 months. We were amazed at how quickly we were able to retrieve all the verses again. This method really does work! (It is not something we came up with ourselves, but read online at a website which is no longer working.)