Written on Our Hearts

He prides himself on his penmanship.

Pencil in hand, the youngest one, the littlest one, wriggles into his place. He wrote out his full first name, all eight letters, before he was three, before he was talking well. He whizzed through two handwriting books a year, often completing a week's lessons in a single day. He was writing cursive in first grade.

His writing is as neat as mine, albeit larger.

Each day he pulls out copybook and neatly writes what we are memorizing for the week. As I mentioned on Monday, this week we're learning 1 Thessalonians 5:15-18:

See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. -- English Standard Version

Then he pulls out his penmanship book, a series I love, that all four children have used: A Reason for Handwriting. Over the course of a week, he practices part of a Scripture verse, finally copying it out onto a beautiful illustrated page that he can then give to family or friends.

Not his best work, but the best one not given away to family or friends

Each week he copies Words, squirreling them into his heart as pencil glides across page.

This is how I memorize The Word, too.

I copy His Word into journals...into my quotation journal, into my prayer journal. I consume Scripture as I copy onto page, dipping brass nib into ink bottle--an action that slows me, allowing Word to nestle in, make itself at home in my deep places.

When one copies Word to paper, letters formed one after another, thoughts pinned to page, heart-work drilling deep where memories birth and mature, the Word is ready to be drawn out into light at our every need.

And we need it. We need Him. We need His Word whispered into our hearts, into the depths of our souls...written there by His very Hand. And when His Word is anchored in memory, it easily rises to the surface where we can chew on it, savoring His Truth in our inmost places.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105, ESV)

Writing His Word on my heart this day,