They Will Soar on Wings Like...

When the sweet girl was two and a half or three, I made a set of Bible verse cards for her. Because she wasn't talking much yet, I relied heavily on images to help her learn and become familiar with the verses. On one side of the card I put a picture (either clipart or cut from a magazine or catalog) and on the other side I put the Scripture. When we read them together, I would hold them up with the picture side facing her and the verse facing me, and I would read the verse aloud. Once she was beginning to talk in earnest, she would chime in with the word or words (related to the picture) when I paused in the reading of the verse. For instance, one card had a picture of a sun, and I would read "The Lord is my...." and she would say "Light." I think that might have been the first verse card I made, probably because light was a word she could sign as well as say.

After we used them for quite a while, I put all the cards away in a little box, and just recently we got them out again. We've worked on other Scripture verses in the meantime, especially ones set to music, but I've been delighted to see how well she remembers these first cards and how much she still enjoys reviewing them.

The other day she pulled out a card with a picture of a soaring eagle on it. I held it up and read "...those that trust in the LORD will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like...."

"Birds," she said promptly, looking at the picture. It had been a long time since we'd gone over the verse, after all.

"Well, that's right," I encouraged. "We will soar on wings like birds, a particular kind of bird. This bird is an eagle."

"Eagles," she repeated.

Last night she happened to pull that card out again. Once more I held it up and read "...those that trust in the LORD will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like..."

"Seagulls!" she said promptly.

You know, that image works pretty well too!