As a missionary, years and years ago, I was introduced to a method of memorizing scripture that required the use of index cards (3×5) and a rather complicated system of date tracking.
When used with the cards it was relatively simple, but it required that you bring a pretty large collection (depending on your memorization goals) of cards with you pretty much everywhere you went.
I got pretty good at it, and had about 300 memorized in my first year.
And then the upkeep got pretty tedious, and I let it all go.
I’ve tried to reestablish the habit many times over the last several years, trying to be more consistent, while making the “take everything I need with me physically” less burdensome.
I’ve written spreadsheets to do the date tracking for me. I considered writing phone apps to do it. I’ve used phone apps other people wrote.
And nothing worked because nothing really gave me the flexibility I wanted. Two days ago, I was texting with my friend Mike, and he said he uses Apple’s Reminders app to track daily tasks.
I haven’t ever really be into Reminders, although I’ve used it occasionally for small things. Mostly grocery lists, to be honest. Calendar usually did more what I needed (scheduling).
But after investigating more deeply, I think I’m headed down a path of using Reminders much more frequently.
Problem requirements
To follow this particular memorization technique, you need to
- Memorize the passage
- Recite it daily for 7 days
- Recite every 3 days for 21 days (7x)
- Weekly for a month (4x)
- Bi-weekly for 2 months (4x)
- Monthly for 6 months (6x)
- Semi-annually for life
Arguably, you probably should turn it into monthly for life, and I may adjust. But that’s the main goal.
I really had been looking for a way to track everything, like I did on cards, but I realized I could just drop that requirement, and things would be ok.
If Reminders can bring each scripture up on the day I need to review it, that is pretty much enough.
It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s good enough to deal with the flexibility I probably will require AND be able to be picked up again at some point if I end up dropping it all.
The nice thing about it is the tie-in with the notification button–I freaking hate numbers in little red circles.
And it’s also portable pretty much everywhere I go–including to places (hunting) that have no service. It’s portability is a major plus because this way the review process doesn’t take up physical space–which is always at a premium.