Turning Reading into Remembering

Greg Robinson offers practical ways to carry Scripture beyond the page, turning reading into memory, meditation, and lived wisdom.

By Greg Robinson

Read Time: 4 minutes

One of the most satisfying things about teaching children is the way their faces light up when they discover new things. That experience alone makes it worth being a teacher.

But there is nothing like seeing the excitement of a child as they make discoveries in the Word of God: the curiosity they have as they work to understand, their concentration as they think about the passages, and then the smile that comes when they do understand. They are experiencing the incredible power that comes from understanding God’s Word. That power can have an impact on them that will last the rest of their lives.

Helping our children to understand the Word of God is the most important thing we can do for them. Having a plan to educate them needs to be a top priority for parents.

As part of that plan, many of us have found that teaching our children to take notes (in a notebook or in their Bibles) during classes, exhortations, and the daily Bible readings can be a gamechanger in our efforts to help them understand and internalize the Word of God.

A few years back, when Kids’ Camp California was getting started, the committee was planning the week’s afternoon activities. Since the kids would be spending the morning in Bible classes, we planned to lighten things up for them in the afternoon by offering a choice between drama or choir. Some on our committee thought not all the kids would be comfortable with choir or drama, so we decided to add a third option: Bible marking. We expected most of the kids to sign up for the choir or drama option. But as the registrations came in, many had chosen Bible marking as their afternoon activity! When we got to camp, the kids in Bible marking were totally engaged in the activity. They were having fun doing it. The end-of-week survey revealed that Bible marking was one of the “most liked” parts of Kids’ Camp. This outcome came as a huge surprise to everyone on the committee! We just did not expect the kids to be so excited about Bible marking, because we had underestimated the effect the Word of God could have on them. This experience completely changed our way of thinking and the camp’s afternoon schedule. Now we have Bible marking for all the campers as a built-in part of the schedule.

After observing the interest kids had in marking their Bibles firsthand, we noticed that kids of all ages were taking notes or marking their Bibles at Bible Schools and study days. We would sometimes see kids as young as seven writing down the verses in a notebook. Others were writing down verses with comments next to them. Older kids were highlighting or underlining words in their Bibles and putting notes beside them. We also saw kids taking notes on tablets or computers, just like they would in a class at school or college. These kids had developed the habit of taking notes in the Bible classes and exhortations they attended. This habit helped them understand the Word of God, and thus, the example of these kids encouraged our family to emphasize the importance of note-taking and Bible marking.

But, as our children were growing up, we had a hard time getting them to develop the habit of taking notes. We had to remind them every single week to take notes, and they would often go for a few weeks without taking notes if we didn’t stay on top of them. This avoidance kept happening until we made taking notes their responsibility—having them request a copy of the class or exhortation and creating notes later at home if they didn’t take notes during the event. After spending a few Sunday afternoons taking notes at home, the habit finally stuck.

I asked some of the teens in our area how they have benefited from this habit, and here is what they told me:

• “Bible marking helps me pay attention during classes. I listen for important points and mark them down.”
• “Bible marking turns reading into remembering.”
• “I won’t remember it if I don’t write it down.”
• “Reading markings in my Bible takes my mind right back to the study or class.”
• “My Bible markings give me a start on my Bible studies. I can use them to build on other people’s work.”
• “Marking my Bible during the daily readings helps me because it slows down the reading of the chapter, and it helps the chapter we are reading to come alive.”

But, it’s not just kids who benefit from notes and markings: we all can! Here are a few of the other benefits we get from taking notes in classes, readings, and exhortations:

• Taking notes encourages us to pay attention throughout the class; we can focus on what is being said for longer.
• When we put things into our own words or summarize what we hear, it boosts our memory and comprehension.
• When we understand and remember more about the classes we hear, we can participate in discussions after class. We can use others’ help to fill in the parts we missed and learn even more!
• Our recollection is enhanced by creating visual memories in our Bibles or notes.
• We create notes that can be reviewed each time we read that section of the Scriptures: in other classes, in the daily readings, and in discussions with others.
• We can include questions in our Bible marking that prompt conversations with others during the daily Bible readings.

As we can see, there are many benefits to taking notes. But the amazing thing is that the cost to us of taking notes is basically nothing. We are already spending the time listening to classes, readings, and exhortations. If we include the common ecclesial functions that most ecclesias support, we’ll spend two to three hours each week being taught from the Word of God and a few more hours doing the Bible readings. How much more would we remember from all these hours of learning if we took notes or marked our Bibles?

Taking notes isn’t just for kids; it is for all of us! If you asked brothers and sisters in your ecclesia what their most valuable possession is, many would tell you that it’s their Bible—and they wouldn’t be talking about just any Bible—they would be talking about their Bible: full of a lifetime of notes and markings. That’s their greatest treasure. If their house were burning down, it would be the very first thing they’d grab as they left the house.

If we can get into the habit of taking notes in classes, readings, and exhortations, it can be transformative for our spiritual development. Teaching our children this habit can have the same incredible impact on their spiritual development. The reward is immeasurable, and the cost is almost nothing.

Greg Robinson,
Thousand Oaks Ecclesia, CA