Several months ago, a video went around social media of a boy, barely old enough to know the alphabet, quoting a Bible verse for each letter of the alphabet. It was super impressive. In case you missed it, here is the link:
Little Boy Quotes Bible Verses For Each Letter Of Alphabet
He really inspired me. He inspired my kids. If this little boy could do it, why couldn’t we? So I played it slowly, and wrote them all out. And then over the next several weeks, we learned them. My girls, ages 9 and 6, got super into it. And most of all, they loved to be quizzed on it. They were proud of themselves. [If you’d like to have the verses, click here: A-Z Bible Verses]
It reminded me of being a kid with my Dad. He loved to study the Bible, and he made it super fun. As a child, we enjoyed trivia games, “find that book in the Bible” races, and good, old fashioned sibling competition. At a very young age, we memorized the books of the Bible in order. It was knowledge that I was always so grateful to have learned, and it proved quite useful throughout my life.
So, when the kids finished the A-Z verses, we started in on the Old Testament books. To help us memorize, and to remember what the books were mostly about, we made up a hand gesture for each one. Camden and Ellie had so much fun, and now they are really proud of themselves! And we’ve inspired some of our family to learn them, too.
Certainly, no one needs to memorize the books of the Bible. And if this post makes you feel as though you or your kids should know this already, please dismiss that condemning voice. But in the hope that it inspires you, I share it. (That, and to preserve it. In this, my vault).
Here is our cheat sheet explaining each book and its hand gesture: Old Testament Books Cheat Sheet
And here is a home video of my girls demonstrating them: Cam & Ellie recite OT books
We are looking forward to doing the same for the New Testament. The girls also wanted new verses to memorize beyond the A-Z list, so I have plans for us to learn a memory verse from each of the Old Testament books next. If I can pick a summarizing verse from each, that will also help them to hold an overview in their minds. Look for these in future posts!
If you’ve always wanted a good overview of the Old Testament, but have found it overwhelming, Melton Short wrote a wonderful book called The Bible Made Simple. You can find it here: WorldImpactMinistries.Org
I realize that if you are following this blog, I must sound to you like a broken record. Everything seems to be about God, and about how I see His love letter everywhere. I know, I know. Blah. But I really struggle to write about anything else. It’s the thing that moves me to write. I love to read about all kinds of things, but when I try to write on other topics, I end up looking like Tom Hanks in You’ve Got Mail: delete, delete, delete, delete, delete. Backspace.
So, at the risk of sounding redundant, I saw another kind of love letter when I started summarizing the books of the Bible for my kids. If you open my cheat sheet, and just read the column titled “God’s message,” there is such a lovely note there to us. If you never plan to crack the spine on your Bible, or the idea of diving into Scripture overwhelms you, just read that column. You’ll hear His voice. And should you land on a sentence that particularly moves you, don’t ignore that prompting. Find your Bible, open it up to that book, and just start. It’s never too late to just start. The most beautiful love letter, from the most incredible Person, is waiting.