Memorizing Scripture

I just started teaching Sunday school this year. I love interacting with kids and the challenge of getting them excited about the Lord. To kick off each class I normally have the kids collectively recite their memory verse of the month. In January we're focusing on the virtue of orderliness, so our memory verse is: "Be very careful then how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity," Ephesians 5:15-16.
Since we've entered the third weekend of January and the kids have known this verse all month, I thought I'd call on them individually to recite their verse. But no one--with the exception of Delaney--knew the verse my heart. I was shocked. I asked, "Don't your parents go over the verses with you?" No, they responded in chorus. I asked if they prayed with their parents before bedtime or did devotionals together. Again, they answered in the negative. My heart sunk.
We then grouped the older kids with the younger kids during drama. The leader asked who could recite their memory verse and Max and Delaney's hands shot up. Max can't even read but he knows his memory verses by heart because his Daddy makes him recite them every night before he goes to sleep. This just gave me a new appreciation for Jeff as the spiritual leader of our home.
Chuck Swindoll and Dallas Willard wrote that Bible memorization is fundamental to spiritual formation. And it's especially critical for our children's minds to be filled with the Word of God during a time when their minds are sponges, soaking in influences that may not always be the best for them.
Max and Laney know they're loved by their family. But most importantly, they know they're loved by the Lord. And I'm hoping that with every Bible verse committed to their memory and every prayer spoken from their lips to God's ears, that they develop a firm faith that withstands all the winds of change that blow through their lives.