I had to memorize a lot when I was younger.

My Sunday School teacher was always giving us verses to memorize, rewarding the first one who got it with a bag of Kellog’s Fruity Snacks. That was incentive enough for me; plus I wasn’t very good at sports, so this was about the only kind of competition I could win with my friends.

"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”– Joshua 1:8

My strategy always involved first retreating to the far corner of the room, the one boxed in by a bookshelf and a couch, with just enough space to fit my scrawny frame yet keep out anything that would hinder me from victory....sweet, cherry-flavored victory. Next came chunking the phrases, attaching each with some nonsensical, mnemonic picture like a Bible glued onto a tongue or something. This, done with the eyes closed and a lot of mouthing completed the process.

I didn’t even know what the word "meditate" meant. This isn’t meditation in the sense of mental silence, quite the opposite in fact. This is meditating on a thought kind of like how a cow eats grass, consuming it and regurgitating it over and over until the grass is finally digested through the cow’s whopping four stomachs. That’s because when you do that, eventually it just...clicks.

The verse explains that the purpose of meditation is for you to know what God wants by memorizing His word, so that when you're faced with conflict, you'll know what to do. Then the verse goes on to say that by doing that, you'll prosper and be successful. There's a logic to it, like a soldier memorizing attack patterns so when it comes time for battle he'll know how to win. God maps these things out so you'll succeed.

To a smaller degree that's exactly what I was doing. I was saying those words over and over, thinking about what they meant and letting them resonate to the point where I didn't have to think about them anymore. So, in the heat of the moment, my mind stayed focused to conquer my task and acquire the coveted gummy trophy.

This verse is probably one of the most concrete in my repertoire. Funny how I never realized I was applying it. Even in my immature ways and off-center goals God designed it so I’d make this particular one stick, so that when it came time to grow up and put away childish things, to stop fighting for artificial fruit, and seek real fruit in my life, I would know how.