At the risk of sounding like a crazy person, I am going to tell you that I cried this morning. As soon as I got up, I couldn’t wait to start working on the last two verses of the book of Philippians. Then I read the commentary about these last greetings of the book. I took a break for breakfast and came back to try to think on the words and cement the last four verses. Suddenly I was overcome with a feeling of longing to know Paul better and the sense that he had become such a good friend, someone I admired so much. I felt like I had just moved away from him now that I finished the memorization and I wouldn’t be hearing from him so often anymore. I missed him, in anticipation.
Okay, I know that’s dumb, for I don’t plan on abandoning the book of Philippians. In fact, the plan is to recite the whole book every single day for 100 days. That means until July 10th. In addition, I will continue to do so weekly and eventually monthly for, well, I guess forever, so I don’t forget what I have learned. I hope when I am old (that should be in about one more year) and have lost all my other memories, I can still delight in God’s word. Still and all, I had a sense of loss and fulfillment and joy all at the same time.
I mentioned yesterday in my devotional with the other ministers at church, that I have never done anything that has added more to my spiritual life than this project. I feel like I have literally eaten of God’s Word. What a joy this has been.
After a couple of false starts (always choking on the first verse), I managed to record, all at one sitting my recitation of the whole book. It takes about 15 minutes. I am not deluded to think you have time to sit down and watch me recite the whole book, but nevertheless, I am putting the video here on my blog, at the end of this post. You can watch the beginning and end, if so inclined. I did not forget any verses. I stumbled on mistakes about three times. I found lots of “small” mistakes of prepositions (I guess they are deadly in any language) and word inversions, but nothing that changed the sense of the verse. I marked all the mistakes and will be working diligently over the next week or so to correct those errors. It’s not that I am a perfectionist (okay, okay maybe a little), but I figure if I’ve gone to all this trouble, I might as well get it completely right.
I could not pick out my favorite verse, but here are the ones I loved the most – or at least today I did:
1:21 - “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain”.
3:7-8 – “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.”
4- 6 – “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God”.
4:19 – “And my God will supply your every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
By the way, I used the ESV (English Standard Version), which I am really enjoying. Share you favorite verses) with me!
1 comment:
Parabéns, Peg! Que gostoso ouvir a sua interpretação da carta. Parece até que você a escreveu. Muito emocionantes. E parabéns por ter vencido tão rápido o seu desafio de memorização. E pensar que eu preciso oferecer pontos extras na nota como incentivo para os meus alunos memorizarem versículos e, mesmo assim, alguns não o fazem. Uma pena.
Achei graça do seu amém brasileiro em 4.20.
Que Deus te abençoe para conseguir memorizar outros textos e que a use como exemplo pra outras pessoas além de mim.
Bjs
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