ABC Bible Verses

Several years ago when my firstborn was 18 months old, I sat across from a mentor and asked her how to teach him about Jesus.

“Do we sit down every Tuesday for family devotions? Play sermon tapes at nap time? Lay my hands on him and pray over his diaper changes? Anoint his head with oils? Leave it up to the professional at Bible class?”

It seemed so daunting to me.

I didn’t know how. I didn’t have the answers. I’m not great with small children.

Looking back, it makes me laugh. He was so little. And I placed astronomical expectations on myself.

It’s taken me a few years to realize how much we try to over-complicate this.

Faith-filled parenting is not about a formula to success or about my kid knowing every book of the Bible by his second birthday; it is about speaking truth and teaching about Jesus throughout every day life.

Did you know that God isn’t frazzled by chaos? It’s true. He’s right there in the middle of it. Right there in the peanut-butter-coated house you and your tiny humans inhabit.

And any amount of time you devote teaching your children about Him will be blessed. It will never ever be wasted.

Don’t let intimidation deter you – just do it!

Here are some Tiny Human Faith Endeavors we’ve undertaken recently. I share them not because we’re awesome, but because we’re very not. (Which is why we need to arm our kids with God’s words instead of our own.)

Resources help me.

I hope these help you!

ABC Scriptures

A few years ago, the boys and I did a Year of Fruits. Each month, we focused on a different Fruit of the Spirit. It was very unplanned with very low expectations. It was shockingly simple, yet profoundly sweet.

This past year, I upped the ante a little bit with my oldest. At the beginning of the school year, we started ABC Bible Verses. 

Instead of memorizing one Bible verse per month, we memorized one per week – each verse starting with a different letter of the alphabet.

If this seems crazy, let’s refer to the fact that my boys can watch How to Train Your Dragon exactly 1 time, and spend the following week reciting every dragon species within the movie. If we can spend time filling our memory banks with names like Deadly Nadder and Hideous Zippleback, we can spend time filling it with truth from the Bible.

And, wow. I am blown away by just how much these guys have learned. (My 5 year old, specifically and especially.)

Because today?!

Today we finished.

26 Bible verses in 26 weeks.

And, like, the amount of pride I feel towards that child is inexplicable.

Here’s what we did:

Each week, we’d write the new verse on the chalkboard in the playroom.

And at the end of the week, we’d make a video after we’d memorized it.

Some videos were perfect, some included one brother helping the other say his verse, some included forced flatulence and hysterical laughter. (Kids, man.)

I typed up the verses we used…feel free to print and use in your own home!

(or download the PDF here.)

Honestly, we didn’t have, like, an Official Bible Memorization Hour. It was incredible how quickly he picked these up. (hello, underestimation of tiny human brains)

I recited the week’s verse when I remembered, we worked on it kinda sorta on the way to preschool, and – BAM. Memorized.

Kids are crazy spongey.

This is an endeavor I’d highly recommend.

Stay tuned for a review of our ULTRA CELEBRATION tomorrow night. We’re going to celebrate the heck out of this kid and his hard work.

3 final sidebars:

1. I told Beck if he did it, I would, too. Here’s that video: https://youtu.be/2czRAQ2hpp0
2. It’s incredible how much our 2-3 year old picked up just by overhearing his brother. He knows at least one word from every verse. They’re listening and learning, man. Always.
3. If you’ve seen that un-be-lievably cute kid who did the same thing and ended up on the Steve Harvey show, do not watch the video above. It’ll be highly underwhelming. That kid was, like, a prodigy or something.

Hiding His word in their hearts. You can never go wrong.