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In the Balance September 22, 2008

Posted by mmcewen in Evaluation, sudden strokes.
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“It all comes down to where we want to be in the balance between time and perfection“, were the words that came out of my mouth. In context, I was speaking about a (math) test development project on which I am currently working. Many test items still need review and revision. Some are in better shape than others. It’s my nature to want them all to be as perfect as possible before they are printed for the “try out” administration, but there is also the reality of time constantly breathing down our proverbial necks. It really was stating the obvious.

As soon as my ears fed those words back into my brain, I realized it was true of SO MANY things in life – and especially in student life. When is good-enough good enough? When do we say, “This is the best that I can do in this amount of time – and no more”? Once I realized the banality of what I had spoken, I tried to think of instances where such would NOT be the case. That was proving difficult until the thought came “What if time was not an issue?”

Then it dawned on me! That’s why we are commanded: Be ye therefore perfect . It’s not because the Savior is asking the impossible, it’s because it IS possible through His grace, and time is not an issue, because thanks to Him, we will each have as much time as we need to accomplish that with Christ as our perfect mentor and advocate.

That realization brought such sweet peace. I (once again) realized that my life is too often crammed too full of ‘good’ things that at times cloud (or crowd) the ‘best’ things.

It also helped me understand that perfect “evaluations” are also possible when time is not an issue.

Email, IM, Texts and Tweets: Blasts from the Past? September 15, 2008

Posted by mmcewen in sudden strokes.
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One day while pondering the popularity of ever more instant, simultaneous, and ubiquitous forms of communication made possible through technology, I had an interesting thought – Perhaps one of the reasons we are so drawn to these technologies (with some it is almost an addiction) is because it is reminiscent of the way we communicated in the premortal life.

Just as truth rings true to our “eternal” self – who we really are and who we have really always been – I believe there are times when something we experience is so “close-to-home” so to speak that it creates an attraction and satisfaction that is surprisingly strong.

Pure spirit-to-spirit communication is instant, simultaneous, and ubiquitous – I think it should be fairly easy to find examples of this in the scriptures (in a future post?). This is the type of communication I believe we used and enjoyed in our premortal life. I also believe (no scriptural or scientific references here – just my belief from observing my own children) that one of the hardest things a baby has to bear is the inability to communicate in this new world, with this new body, with his/her earthly parents. Communication was so perfect, so effortless, and so instant before – and now it’s so imperfect, difficult, and slow (comparatively)!

Have you ever noticed that it is the youth who are so enamored with all of the multiple streams of technology-based communication that are available?

Perhaps this is just a crazy (rather than inspired) thought — BUT it helps me to replace incredulous frustration with loving compassion, and a quick eternal-perspective check when I struggle with youth continuing to text in a class – or at some other inappropriate place or time – even after several reminders not to! They just miss home! 🙂 Well, this thought helps me anyway and how I feel about them — so it must be worth something!