Dear Grandparent: This is #22 in a series of 66 Bible Faith-building Bible Verses to Memorize With Your Grandchildren. The thread that weaves itself through these verses, one from each book of the Bible, is designed to create a heart of strong faith in you and your grandchild as you commit them to memory together. May God add his blessing to every word.
THE VERSE
Song of Solomon 5:1 Eat, O friends, and drink; drink your fill, O lovers.
THE STORY
Let’s refresh our memories about Solomon, the writer of this book of the Bible. Have you noticed that some people really like to talk deeply about what’s going on around them, and others just want to be silly and have fun? Well, Solomon was the kind that liked to think and ponder and write down his ideas about life. His first book, Proverbs, was full of wisdom for anyone, but especially for young people who have a lot of life ahead of them to live. Remember our verse from Proverbs? Next, the man with insight as measureless as the sand on the seashore wrote about life when he was closer to being finished with his own. Our verse? That’s right – Ecclesiastes 12:13.
Solomon’s third book is a very, very lovey-dovey, ooey gooey story of the love between a husband and wife. You wouldn’t expect to find that in the Bible, would you? But here it is, and there’s a super good reason that God designed it to be in the pages of his word.
THE REASON
Soon, you will be a teenager, and after that, a young adult, my dear sweet granddaughter. If you’re anything like your Grammie, you’re already noticing boys and writing about them in your diary. LOL But, of course, right now, you’re not old enough to get married. Later, when you get to be around 21, you’ll really start feeling like you’d like to think about being married, having children and making a home together. Between now and then, this verse will remind you that God was the one who designed marriage when he created Adam and then gave him Eve for a wife. God also really wants husbands and wives to love each other with their whole hearts and not hold anything back. That’s what this verse is all about. “Eat, o friends, and drink” – that’s God saying to husbands and wives to partake, to sort of treat marriage like it’s a feast of love. “Drink your fill, o lovers” – that’s God instructing husbands and wives to get full on love for each other.
PERSONALIZE IT
Ok, I know this whole subject can be a little embarrassing or uncomfortable to talk about when you’re not even in middle school yet. But on the other hand, I’m your Grams, and I owe it to you to make sure you have a healthy outlook on marriage! My own grandmother did that for me.
Let me tell you that story.
When I was your age, I spent a week every summer with my Grandmommy and Granddaddy in Elk City, Oklahoma. The dirt was so red and the sun was so hot over there in Oklahoma! Every morning, Grandmommy fixed bacon and eggs for Granddaddy before he went to work at the grocery store, and then after that, she and I would do some of what she called runnin’. We would get in the car and go visit her friends, maybe stop in at a store on Main Street, and swing by Granddaddy’s store for something we needed for dinner. Their life was very simple, and they were very happy. But you know what? Each of them had been married before to someone else.
Granddaddy was married to a sweet woman who died from pneumonia when my dad was just ten years old. Grandmommy was married to a man who wasn’t very nice to her, and he left her to marry another woman. The rest of the story is so good, and I’ll tell you more about it later, but in the end, my Elk City grandparents married each other and lived in the fullness of their deep love for many years.
After we did our runnin’ each morning of those sultry summer days, we would turn on the air conditioner and talk or play games or hoist her big metal Folgers coffee can off a high shelf onto the kitchen table and count the coins. While we enjoyed doing those normal things together, my sweet Grandmommy would tell me things that ended up sticking inside my brain forever.
Like this: Honey, if your husband ever calls you from work and asks what you think about packing a suitcase and going over to the next town to stay in a hotel that weekend, try your best to say yes. Don’t worry about the laundry that needs done or the furniture that needs dusting. If your husband asks you every once in a while to get out of town and spend time together, try to do it. It’s good for your marriage.
That’s just one of the many things my Grandmommy told me about loving a husband, but she showed me a whole lot more. Don’t get the wrong idea – she didn’t give any more than Granddaddy did to their relationship. He was very, very sweet to her. They laughed a lot, they talked a lot, and they did what made each other feel so loved.
It was so good for me to see that kind of love in real life. When I got married, I felt as though I knew how to get things started off on the right foot after watching my grandparents love each other so well. And you know what? Every time your granddad has asked me if I can pack a suitcase for a weekend away, what do you think comes to my mind? That’s right. I hear my Grandmommy’s words of wifely wisdom ringing in my ear from all those years ago.
I pray that this verse will have the same lasting effect for you, my sweet granddaughter.
MEMORIZE IT
While it doesn’t really apply to the context, reciting this verse in pirate-voice makes it very easy to remember. Sorry about that! But, hey, they’ll never forget it! For added fun, make a plate of fruit and cheese to share. As you “eat your fill,” memorize the words until you both have the verse down pat.
MEMORIALIZE IT
Video your grandchild reciting this verse in his or her best matey-voice, and upload the video to your family’s YouTube channel, or take lots of pictures for a 66 Verses keepsake photo book.
Encouraging intentional adventure with your sweet grandkids through the pages of God’s word,
PS – Here’s a video of my granddaughter reciting Song of Solomon 5:1 in her pirate / British / Australian accent. 
