The Double-edged Sword of Rote Memory

While there are those who would disparage the use of rote memory in worship, there is evidence that memorization can play an important part in worship. There is a notion that every time rote memory is engaged, it devalues that worship to mindless ritual. But, what neuroscience has discovered about the types of memory and how each is acquired tells us differently.

Unless you are one of those people who has a photographic memory, establishing a rote memory requires multiple recitations. Each recitation stores only a fragment of the whole of the targeted information, thus creating a sort of concordance. That concordance is important because it makes the essence of the memory available under different circumstances and for varied purposes.

For that reason, Scriptures and prayers that are memorized become available in varied situations for varied reasons. That knowledge helped me to understand the difference between suffering the loss of rote memory and enduring that loss.

The loss of rote memory happened to me, as it does to many people, as the result of a closed head injury. Although my therapist had assured me that I would eventually be able to access the memory, though not in whole, I panicked in disbelief. After several years of working to re-establish the mundane items one normally knows (mathematical items such as telephone numbers, social security numbers, and basic math facts), I found I was able to access Scriptures, poems, and prayers using the essence of the meaning of those data. Words to songs are less easy to access. I've learned to use my “personal concordance” to help me access information memorized decades ago.

Fortunately, I was trained by my Sunday School and VBS teachers to memorize Scriptures. We were also taught to “pray the Scriptures,” using them as the basis of prayers. An interesting outcome of this is the Gloria Patria which I memorized in the 1970s. I still can access that prayer in only one circumstance. When I am praying fervently for some emergency or in such emergency, the Gloria comes to me in whole when the prayer is being answered. I have learned, when that happens, to act on that assurance as though I can see it with my natural senses. I find that fascinating but reassuring.

Having shared these circumstances, I'll share also the plight of those with photographic memories. Though they are able to recite passages (prayers, poetry, Scriptures), those passages have no meaning except the sequence of the words and, so, no “personal concordance” is built. How sad that the great truths and the great beauties of all those memorized passages are lost to them!

One of the best things that happened to me in my doctoral studies was the course on Neuropsychology which transformed what I had considered suffering into enduring. At the time, I thought the course was useless but the Lord had other Ideas and I'm so glad He did.

Parenting

 
Parenting is the only job you will ever have where ALL the training is "on the job." Some technical schools call it "just in time training." I wish I could assure you that your parenting training will always be "just in time." However, there is a way to beat that problem. Look at the parents and teachers you have known whom you admired. Since parents are the first teachers a child has, I copied, without apology, the positive examples and learned from the negative examples.

I had a wonderful fourth grade teacher who saw "Chatty Cathies" as children with "strong verbal skills which should be channeled to their advantage." Research decades later supported her supposition that "strong verbal skills" contribute to becoming good readers. She saw stubborn children not as willlful but as persistent and said that made them be "persistent to task." Again, research decades later supporter her. Miss Annabelle would probably have seen children whom others call "stupid" as "having undeveloped potential." To this day (60 yrs later) I still appreciate this woman and, when I parented and when I taught, I tried to emulate her. 

Another great teacher I had was my Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Anita Garrison. She taught us that obeying our parents was training for obeying God. She taught us that obeying them was not a one at a time decision but a commitment. She explained that if we just made the decision that we would be obedient, we would have a much easier time obeying them than if we looked at everything they told us to do as a decision we had to make. I didn't understand that for a very long time. But, when I made the commitment to follow Jesus, I didn't have to make a decision for every choice (or temptation) I faced because I had already made that decision once and for all time. Once I made the decision to "do it as unto the Lord," that all made more sense.

When we got our first foster children, those discussions came back to me. That's when I realized what an awesome job parenting is. It's up to parents to deal with their children with the same consistency that God deals with us. That's how we train them to expect consistency from God and that helps them to know how to recognize temptation.

It's a lot like using a yardstick to measure inches and feet. The distance between each inch and the number of inches in each foot and the number of feet in each yard will always be the same. That's how it is with God's expectations of us. They are consistent and knowable and reliable.

Why are all these lessons so important?

Every interaction a parent has with a child is a lesson we are teaching. That means what we do as well as what we say is a lesson for them. When our actions don't match our words, that too is a lesson. It's a lesson in unfaithfulness. They may never process it in that manner but they will imitate it.

Each of us battles our own personal hypocrite

When I worked with children and young adults with disabilities, I had one iron clad rule. Never avoid or accommodate limitations which should be confronted. And, yet, recently I found myself doing exactly the thing I forbade them to do.

A little over three years ago, I took a hard fall on my right arm on a tile floor. For a few days, it was just sore. Then, it became sharp stabbing pains. As I relinquished to it, the pain dulled. After several months, I asked our parish nurse to recommend an orthopedist. She gave me the name of several. When I asked her to tell me about them, I quickly realized they were orthopedic surgeons and, just as quickly, I crossed them off my "to do" list.

As time went by, I began to limit more and more activities as each one became either more difficult or more painful. It wasn't until we had returned to our former house in NC and needed help dressing that I realized I needed help.

Fear of the likelihood of its being a torn rotator cuff drove me to an orthopedist up here whom I already knew. His office referred me to the sports medicine specialist there. He gave me a shot and scheduled me for physical therapy three times a week. The therapist group are very good. They have "homework" assignments.

Yesterday was a milestone! I took my pea coat on and off without any help! Not once but three times! This was the first time in well over a year that I had been able to do that. In fact, I have only two blouses with set-in sleeves that I can put on alone.

As I mentally congratulated myself on my progress, I realized that all those students whom I had held to that higher standard now had every right to call me a hypocrite. I had expected them to confront their limitations before avoiding or accommodating them but I had not.

Lesson learned. If confrontation does not produce success; then, and only then, should we try to avoid or accommodate the limitation. I put this in writing so I will be reminded and, if it aids you, even better.

Our Value in God's Eyes

This morning in Sunday School, our teacher Theresa Z Arnold was teaching from Psalms and she reminded me of something I heard when we were at Bethany Christian Church.

 A preacher named Tommy Oaks was talking about our insignificance in the broad scheme of things. He told us to imagine a thick black line all the way around the ceiling of the room. (For BCC members, we were in the original sanctuary before it was expanded.)

He said, "Now, imagine that line is printed in dot matrix. For those of you who are not into computers, a dot matrix printer prints what looks to the human eye like a solid line. But, it's not. It's really thousands of tiny dots crammed together so close that the human eye can't perceive the individual dots. Each of us is but a dot on a dot on a dot within that line. As insignificant as each of those dots is, we are even less....except in God's Eye. And, yet, to Him we were important enough for Him to sacrifice His Own Son for our sins."

 His use of the word "perceive" reminded me of something that had happened several years before when we lived in Marietta. Renee Wright was visiting us and we were all three in the front yard looking up at a beautiful starry sky.

It was such a bright night that all three of us lay in the grass looking up. David pointed out various constellations. And, then it hit me!

I said, "Before the light from the fartherest of those stars left on its journey to where we now stand, God already had a plan for our lives and wanted to know us and see us fulfill that plan." As I think about it now, I know that before God set that star in its place, He already knew me and that takes my breath away.

Guarding our Eyes

We have had two pastors who talked a lot about "guarding" our eyes. This phrase certainly came to mind last night as the half time show of the Super Bowl was aired. That, in turn, reminded me of a book by Albert E. Day: "Discipline and Discovery." I have had an outline of that book in the front pages of every Bible I have owned since I read the book. [Note a previous posting: "Six steps to Purity."]


Two of the major premises of that book came to mind: (1) Set a watch on the door of your eyes, and (2) Guard your imagination. That, in turn, reminded me of King David and his experience with Bathsheba II Samuel 11 ff.


"One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. From the roof, he saw a woman bathing-a very beautiful woman. David send someone to inquire about her and he reported, "This is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hitite. David send messengers to get her and when she came to him, he slept with her."


Notice the progression:
(1) mindless idleness (He got up from bed and began to stroll aimlessly around.)
(2) he turned his eyes where he should not
(3) he pursued the object of his attentions
(4) he used his authority to engage her
(5) he sinned
(6) he engaged others in sinning to cover up his own sins.


The story goes on. The outcome of what began as aimlessness soon became focused. First, he focused on how he could cover up his sin by blaming the outcome on someone else. Then, he added murder to his cover up abusing his authority to get the deed done.


The Lord told David that his entire family will bear consequences from his sin. They were not being punished for David's sin. Instead, they were caught up in the natural consequences of being related to a sinful father. To David's credit, he recognized his sin, repents, and sought to serve the Lord for the rest of his days even while continuing to bear the consequences of his sins.


And, it all started when he failed to guard his eyes.

Out of our Comfort Zone

The way it came to me was as David and I were driving along the beach road talking about all the extraordinary events we have experienced together and the wonderful people we have met along the way. At almost the same time, it hit both of us that none of that began until we were willing to "step out of our comfort zone" and leave Rome where we knew so many people and were well known, trusting that God was indeed leading us to do that.


We drove on for several minutes pondering what we had just realized. The ferry came to my mind's eye and I described it to him. Later as I was talking with one of our pastors about this epiphany, he pointed out that the part of the ship under water is that which causes it to float and to move. He suggested I bring it up at house church, which I did.


One of our members is a lifelong sailor (as in sailing ships). He pointed out that not only does flotation and mobility come from below the waterline but so does stability in storms (because that's where the ballast is). So, as we have shared this with prayer partners (remember the part about "withstands the scrutiny of other prayerful Christians" as being a part of testing decisionmaking for God's Will as contrasted with our own), more of the meaning has been revealed.