repetition is the key to learning
“…for his steadfast love endures forever.” — Psalm 136:1 b
A couple of memories from my childhood.
First, Mr. Hogue’s 8th grade civics class. Children complaining about our going over the same topics and information again and again, “Why can’t we hear something new?” And Mr. Hogue’s patient and wise instruction: “Class, repetition is the key to learning.” And ironically, he repeated that enough times that at fifty-six years old I’ve not yet forgotten it.
Second, one of the first complaints I remember hearing in church was about some new modern worship songs, decried by some of the more silver-haired folk for their repetitive lyrics — “Why can’t we hear something new, they just keep saying the same words over and over again!”
Fast forward to my college years, where I feel like I really started to read the Bible. I mean really read it. And I get to Psalm 136. Here’s a sampling:
Thank God! He deserves your thanks.
His love never quits.
Thank the God of all gods,
His love never quits.
Thank the Lord of all lords.
His love never quits.
Thank the miracle-working God,
His love never quits.
The God whose skill formed the cosmos,
His love never quits.
The God who laid out earth on ocean foundations,
His love never quits.
The God who filled the skies with light,
His love never quits.
The sun to watch over the day,
His love never quits.
Moon and stars as guardians of the night,
His love never quits.
Huh.
I heard again, as I read this Psalm late last night, the voices of my childhood.
The complaining choir: “Why can’t they sing something new? They just keep saying the same words over and over again.”
And Mr. Hogue’s patient and wise instruction: “Repetition is the key to learning.”Indeed, Mr. Hogue, it is! And oh the wonders that we learn in the repetition of this Psalmist! Think of this, dear reader — how wonderful to hear, over and over and over again:
“His love never quits.”
For it doesn’t.
His steadfast love endures.
And it endures, forever.
Say it to yourself, over and over.
Recite it.
Memorize it.
Because repetition is the key to learning, and this lesson is worth a lifetime of believing and thanksgiving.
PRAYER:
Thank you, O God, for your mercies,
which are "new every morning,"
and for your nature which is "the same yesterday and today and forever."
I never know what to expect from you;
and yet I always know what to expect from you.
You have so many ways of declaring redemptive love to me,
but always it is redemptive love you bring, even through Jesus, the Messiah.
(Lamentations 3:23; Hebrews 13:8)
Yes, and very amen, in Jesus’ name.
