On Scripture Memory

I've been wondering recently how to measure the value of scripture memory, which led me to wonder whether such an attempt at quantifying spiritual matters is even allowed. After all, we are supposed to hide God's Word in our hearts so as not to sin (is that actually a command anywhere, or is it mainly anecdotal testimonials drawn largely from Psalm 119?), which ought to be the clincher right there. But if scripture memory is an option rather than an imperative, should we or should we not seek to pursue it?

The first and obvious answer is yes, we should. I was encouraged (first by monetary bribes, then by the esprit de corps of family projects) to memorize many verses at a very young age, until eventually the discipline became internal and I chose to learn and remember the Word of God on my own. I'm very grateful for this discipline, because everything I learned before the age of, say, fifteen, I still retain most vividly and clearly. (Beyond that, the passages get a little fuzzier, but I can always brush them up rather sprucily.) I'm glad for the familiarity with scripture, I'm glad for the practice, and I'm glad to be able to quote pertinent passages at a moment's notice so that I might be 'ready always to give an answer' and 'rightly divide the word of truth' (um, yeah, I can quote the words readily enough, but I still can't usually cite them without the help of a concordance).

But I have noticed that when I read my Bible nowadays (or all during the last ten years, more or less), whenever I come to a passage or a verse that I already know, I tend to find my mind glossing over it a bit, skipping through the familiar words as if on auto-pilot while my critical thinking races on ahead. It's easier for me to be struck by something profound and new when it's a verse I don't already know by heart. (Even though I'm already familiar with a lot of the main ideas of the Bible, I never actually memorized the verse in the gospel about 'Look, Lord, here are two swords,' for instance, so it always catches me by surprise and delight.) I can absorb the gist of it, but I'm not necessarily reading with a mind open to the setting of, 'Huh, that's interesting - I wonder what he's trying to say here.'

I'm not sure what the solution is. When I catch myself skimming through familiar territory, I try to slow down and ponder the significance of what I am reading. It's tricky to spot, though - when was the last time you stopped to ponder the staggering implications of John 3:16?

And I really don't think the best idea would be not to memorize scripture. I'm very excited about standing Jane in good stead as young as possible, but I don't want to think that I'm crippling her Bible studies for the rest of her life by giving her a rote acquaintance with that which is sacred and holy.