Two All Beef Patties

“Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.”

“I wrote that from memory and I imagine many of you could do the same,” Gail Purath said. “Pretty amazing considering that McDonalds only ran that Big Mac jingle for one year (1975-76). And even more amazing because I didn’t try to learn it.”

I don’t know about Gail, but I memorized things a lot easier back then.

She continues …

Our memories are incredible. We memorize things throughout our lives without even trying—sights, smells, sounds, names, recipes, addresses, phone numbers, songs…

Sadly, studies show that:

“Put to the test, Americans recalled the seven ingredients of a McDonald’s Big Mac hamburger and members of TV’s ‘The Brady Bunch’ more easily than the Bible’s Ten Commandments.”

I’ve memorized Scripture ever since becoming a Christian, although not as faithfully as I should. And I fear that my head is still filled with far more useless information than with God’s life-changing words. 

So, if you’re like me and need an occasional boost to get back into the discipline of memory work, let me give you a few “painless” ideas:

1. Reading Memorization: write out and repeat a verse daily. Eventually you’ll memorize it.

2. Mutual Memorization: Memorize a passage a week with a buddy.  It always helps to have accountability and someone to “show off” what you learn.

3. Musical Memorization: Music helps us remember. That’s how we learned the alphabet as kids and why advertisers use catchy jingles. Think how many words to songs you’ve memorized without trying. So why not put Scripture passages to familiar tunes, or make up your own Scripture “jingles.”

4. Retro Memorization: Find some old 1970’s praise albums (or 8 track tapes? just kidding) when many of the songs were straight from the words of Scripture.  I became a Christian in the 70’s and these choruses are the source of many of the verses hidden in my heart.

5. Artistic Memorization: Draw pictures and symbols, even if they are just stick figures and doodles, whatever will help you visualize the passage.

6. Academic Memorization: Tear the verse apart, identify the parts of speech; create an outline or bullet points to help you remember passages.  You English teacher-types will especially like this.

7. Figure 8 Memorization: This method based on Psalm 119:97 involves reading a passage eight times a day for eight days.

“Hiding God’s Word in our hearts” (Psalm 119:11) has far reaching benefits, and is well worth the effort, especially when we can employ one of these painless methods. 

Why not leave a comment with your favorite method of memorization so others can benefit. And please share any special stories about ways memorization has blessed you or others.

Gail Purath has been married to her best friend for 42 years, living the life of a nomad here on earth (40 homes in 62 years), looking forward to her heavenly home. Mother of two, grammy of seven, Gail writes about her joys, struggles, failures and victories in her short-but-powerful 1-Minute Bible Love Notes and shares a short Bible study each week on Bite Size Bible Study.