Memory Mondays: Thoughts on the ABCs

My grandmother's parents and some of their children

My grandmother and the next three generations

            Five generations, and how have things changed through the years.

Years ago when my first child was small, I saw a children’s book at the store on ABCs and bought it. The name of the book was “I Live in the City ABC.” It was a fun book filled with rhymes. And as any parent is apt to do when a child likes a certain book, I read it to my child over and over (and over and over and over).  In fact we both heard it so many times, that we didn’t even need to look at the book to be able to recite it. I remember traveling from our house to my husband’s workplace to pick him up on several occasions. And on those times as we traveled from our home in the suburbs into the middle of the city via the interstate, my child—strapped into her car seat in the back— and I would repeat the whole book by memory. And my daughter could read simple stories before she entered kindergarten.

Five or six years ago, I came across a small book written in 1855—just ten years or so before my great-grandmother was born. It was written for a child and included poems and prayers. But the most interesting thing to me was the first few pages. On those pages was the alphabet and beside each letter was a Bible verse.  While in the book I taught my child the ABC's, “A is an Avenue with cars whizzing by” and” B is the bus with the driver up high.” In the old book, next to A was “A lying tongue doth the Lord hate. Prov. 6:16.17” and next to B was “Be ye kind one to another. Eph. 4:32.”

Now I understand two things: 1—just a list of Bible verses in a black and white book might not hold a child’s interest in today’s world of colorful picture books and animated character on the TV or computer, and 2—children won’t understand Bible verses like these when they are still pre-schoolers. The solution to the first is easy if you want to make an ABC book with Bible verses. There are all sorts of ways to make your own book using pictures from the internet or old books that can be cut up. The answer to the second thing is just as easy if you think about it. When I first started reading the City ABC book, my child didn’t know what an avenue, a bus, an elevator, or a jaybird were. I had to explain those as we went along (and explain again and again, although the pictures helped). But that is the same thing with a Bible verse ABC book. We need to teach our children the things of the Bible and talk about them over and over again. One time is never enough. How many times do we still need to hear lessons on forgiveness, kindness, understanding, and the gifts of God’s love, grace, and mercy?