Commandments Before Playing

When the children were little, I had a print-out of the Ten Commandments posted to the wall, beside our back door. The children were only allowed to go outside each day if they read this entire document. It was the long version, copied directly from Scripture.

I love the memory of four little children (the baby was too young),crowding by that paper and all reading as fast as they could. My fourth child, Amy, was three years old. She would rush over there and stand right along with the older ones and repeat everything they said, while jumping up and down. It sounded like she was mumbling. It was so cute.

Then the children would open the door and rush outside to play in the backyard. I was always so proud of them. They never forgot to do this!

Well, one day, I wanted to see if anyone had the Commandments memorized. So I offered a reward. The three oldest tried and tried to recite it from memory. But they couldn't. Amy kept begging me to let her try. I just told her to wait... Finally, I gave in, just to appease her. "Okay, Amy. You try it!"

We all watched and smiled at this sweet little girl. She had bouncing, brown, curly hair and deep, blue eyes. She was so cute and precious. Her childish voice began. She recited the entire thing, perfectly, from memory. We were amazed!!

We realized that while each child had read those verses every day, she had been mumbling along. But during this time, it all got in her head and she learned them all by heart, without ever reading it!!

Blessings
Mrs. White