Sunday Devotion: Say it Over and Over

Cindy Sproles

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. – Deuteronomy 6:5-7

I recall my eighth grade English teacher, Mr. B. Each child who was privileged to be a member of his homeroom received a nickname. Over thirty years later, my elementary and high school friends still refer to me as Cindy Lou.

However, the one thing that impressed me most about Mr. B. was his determination to for us to learn English. He believed in the art of repetitive teaching – in other words doing it over, and over, and over again. Each night we were required to diagram fifty sentences. Every other week he gave us five poems to memorize. Poems like A Road Not Taken and The Raven. The entire year was spent engaging in this repetitive style of learning.

Mr. B. could tell if we’d made and effort, especially on the poetry. He never made fun of us, or punished us if we were unable to remember the exact words of the poems. Instead, he leaned back in his desk chair, propped his feet on his desk and found gentle ways to remind us of what we were missing.

I remember stumbling through The Raven. After class Mr. B. slipped me a tiny piece of paper and instructed me to look at it every hour, read through it twice, then put it away. Later that day, he called on me to repeat the poem again. After a full day of doing what he asked, I whizzed through the part that had caused me trouble earlier. His theory was, “Do it over and over. You’ll remember.” Years later, I can’t recall the entire poem, but you can rest assured, I still remember, word for word, the part he had me practice.

The children of Israel were given the same instructions. Repeat the laws, say them, tell your children at home. Post it everywhere. Remind them over and over. This constant repetitiveness drove home the values God wanted His people to understand. The importance of practice is something we tend to leave to the music students. When in reality, we should be boning up on scripture, good attitude and worship ourselves. If we do not keep the word of God in the forefront, we’ll forget; and forgetting leads to consequence.

As writers, we pick and pull at our written words, often times re-sculpting the same passage numerous times. We tediously choose the perfect words and phrases that make our writing memorable. The process is the same for us as Christians. Crafting our spiritual life is equally as important. The repetition allows us the opportunity to get it right.

Pray, over and over. Memorize scripture, over and over. Practice forgiveness, over and over. Be what God wants us to be – over, and over, and over again. It will be a practice you’ll never regret.

Heavenly Father, sharpen our memories that we might remember all You’ve taught us.