"It's In There"

I have read the Bible cover to cover at least fourteen times. I know this because I was given my first "One Year Bible" about fifteen years ago and have read it every day, every year ever since. And yet, I still can't quote passages by chapter and verse. Either I just don't see the great importance of such memorization of numerical references, or I'm just a dummy with a bad memory for details. Maybe some of both. (I get a kick out of TV shows and movies where tough cops are able to pull Bible quotes by chapter and verse out of their heads when some obscure clue has been left by a looney criminal.) I once heard it said that Einstein didn't know his own phone number. He said he never cluttered up his memory with things he could look up. (And you can look that up to see whether it's true. Ha ha.)

And yet, I know what's in the Bible. Maybe not by numerical reference, but like the Ragu commercial says, "it's in there." When I read the Bible, especially the New Testament, I am reading it with an inquiring and open mind, seeking Truth. Seeking answers. I am not trying to memorize it, but the Truth of it lodges in my mind. Do I know everything that's in the Bible? No. In fact, every time I read it again, I discover something I must have previously glossed over, or was simply not ready to understand until that moment. Anyway, I sometimes wonder if I would be taken seriously about my understanding of the contents of the Bible if I were unable to back it up with a chapter-and-verse reference. And this led me to think about my grandmother.

My grandmother made the best muffins in the world. (With apologies to everyone else whose grandmother also made the best muffins in the world.) Anyway, I once asked her for the recipe. She told me you take some graham flour....I asked her how much. "Oh I don't know, I guess three or four handfuls." How much shortening? "Oh I don't know, I guess about a half an egg shell's worth." The whole recipe went like that. "A small handful of sugar." In the end the only thing I knew for sure was "one egg".

But I know for sure that Grandma made the best muffins in the world, even if she couldn't give me precise measurements. It's how you use what you know.