How to prevent memory loss and dementia is a topic that is of real interest to many people these days. Regular exercise, learning a new language or skill, doing puzzles that require logic, meditation, and reading are some of the ideas that appear regularly in all kinds of magazines, as well as in the media. The experts tell us how important it is to keep our brains stimulated and active.
Here is one more suggestion that just may be more effective than any of these other ideas, however. I discovered it recently while I was in a conversation with a friend of mine who was soon to be 100 years old. My friend was remarkably alert and mentally capable. She was still doing her own financial planning and, though her penmanship was somewhat shakier than it had been, she still regularly wrote letters to her friends and associates. Reading a variety of books still interested her, too. In addition to all of those abilities, she loved being with her family and friends and engaging them in conversation about a variety of current topics. When I asked her to tell me the reason that she thought she was so blessed with such mental acuity, she very quickly gave me the answer. “I believe”, she said, “that it is because I have always memorized Scripture. I have just finished memorizing Romans 8!” Needless to say, I was more than just impressed. I was motivated. She went on to explain to me that memorizing these passages not only kept her mind active, but it kept her heart tender toward God and His ways and will.
Wouldn’t you agree that as you “fix your mind” on the truths of God’s Word through the mental concentration that memorization demands and then the regular repetition that is required if one is going to remember through the months and years these verses and passages of Scripture, that the truths would be absorbed into your heart and soul?
You could even begin to enhance your memory skills today!
I like this reminder about reading scripture. I LOVE the story about the 100 yr-old woman!!
I wonder if our forefathers who came to America were encouraged by verses 11:11-12 “But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year.” And I’m encouraged by those verses today for our beautiful land, America!
This is such a wonderful idea, Marilyn. It reminded me of long ago when I was a child in Sunday School. We were asked to answer the roll call with a Bible verse we had memorized. I can remember my first one was
II Timothy 2:15. I should revisit that weekly habit….