How to prevent memory loss and dementia is a topic 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 she thought she was so blessed with such mental acuity, she very quickly gave me the answer. “I believe”, she said, “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!