Many, many years ago, I attended a Young Adult fireside where I sat toward the back of the cultural hall where there were no hymnbooks. The closing song was "Abide with Me, 'Tis Eventide," and as we sang, I was surprised to find that I actually knew it pretty well. But the even greater revelation was how much those words suddenly meant to me as I concentrated on them and FELT them instead of just singing them along with everyone else the way I usually did.

Years later, when I was trying to manage infants and toddlers at church, I discovered that it was a lot easier to participate if I knew the hymns by heart. I almost always tried to sing without the book, and though I missed words here and there, it was usually pretty easy to follow along.

Now, unless a hymn is really unfamiliar to me, I don't open the hymnbook. And because of that, I've (out of necessity) memorized a whole lot of hymns. They're a blessing to me. I sing them in the car. I sing them when I'm cleaning the kitchen. I sing them when I vacuum. Sometimes I even close the door to my office and sing them at work. But I never seem to be able to learn a new hymn if I keep using the hymnbook to sing it. I can only get it down by staggering through it a few times, which forces me to pay sufficient attention.

So, this is my challenge to you. Try having a no-hymnbook Sunday. You might be surprised how well you already know these words, and singing them without the book may help you feel them in a whole new way. Or maybe you won't know them as well as you thought, and you might be motivated to learn them better. Either way, I promise you that carrying hymns in your heart will bless your life.

Try it!