Be Wise, Memorize

During my service in Primary, I endeavored to help children memorize the Articles of Faith. This experience prompted me to look for ways that could help my children memorize the Articles of Faith at home. The following are some ideas my husband and I used to help our family memorize the Articles of Faith as well as the Ten Commandments.

First, we decided to recite an article of faith before family prayer each morning. We rotated the order daily and used a word clue to remind us of the content of the article of faith for that day: (1) Godhead, (2) Adam, (3) Atonement, (4) principles, (5) laying on of hands, (6) organization, (7) gifts, (8) Bible, (9) revealed, (10) ten tribes, (11) we claim, (12) subject to kings, and (13) honest, true.

Then we decided to add the Ten Commandments in rotation with the Articles of Faith each morning. It takes us 23 days to review all the Articles of Faith and the Ten Commandments, and then we start over. After we have finished memorizing them, we discuss the meaning of each. Some families may want to learn scripture mastery passages to help children prepare for seminary or missionary service.

We have been surprised at how these morning experiences have helped our children remember sacred truths. Recently, our home teachers asked if we knew the thirteenth article of faith. To their surprise we all rang out each word without hesitation. Now that we have incorporated this into our morning devotional, we don’t allow ourselves to part without repeating at least one each day.

Alice Miller, Fishers Landing Ward, Vancouver Washington East Stake