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| FSA (Photo credit: gibsonsgolfer) |
Patty Wysong has created a fun meme where once a week bloggers posted on the letter of the week. Check out the details here. It is called A2Z: Take 2. A2Z as she challenges bloggers to write a post each week going through the alphabet. Take 2 since this is the second time she has used this meme. Anyone can join in and you don’t have to always participate.
E = Examine
I hate tests.
I was a good student in school and love learning, so that may surprise you about my revulsion on test taking. But that sitting down and squeezing my brain matter all over a paper to answer unanticipated questions that will determine my future….YIKES – makes me shiver again remembering them.
My most dramatic test experience was the Nursing exam. In 1972, the national test we needed to pass to become RNs was still given on paper. In fact we took six tests over two very long days.
I sat in a large metal windowless building on The Ohio State Fairgrounds. (Yes weird as we are in Ohio we emphasis THE before anything concerning Ohio State – Go Bucks…but I digress…sorry…back to my story)
Just imagine row after row of long tables filled mostly with women at that time, with our sharpened number two pencils gripped in our sweaty hands. We had to pass every one of those tests in order to get our license. Once finished we waited six agonizing weeks for the results. Multiple-choice questions determined our future.
For someone who does not possess a good memory for details, I remember everything about those two grueling days. I could tell you the colors on the outfits of the person in front of me and the sounds of doors opening and the footsteps of proctors walking around like Nazi prison guards. One girl a couple table away kept cracking her gum. I hate that as much as test taking.
Perhaps the funniest memory is on the first day when a thunderstorm passed over Columbus. You could hear the pounding rain start at one end of the building and literally dance across the roof to the other side.
Yep, I will never forget those two days.
Just as a note, students now take the test online at multiple locations and at their own pace. They have to either pass a certain amount or fail a particular number of questions to complete the test. The computer shuts down automatically when they reach that level. I hear some complete the testing process in one hour and get the results the next day.
So when I read, “let each one examine his own work” you understand why I cringe with this verse.
Yet God’s exam is different. He examines our hearts using His terms.
His standard of measure is love.
There is only one answer and it is not a multiple choice.
When faced with a decision on what action to take, you choose love.
Love is the answer to every question.
We may sin. We may make mistakes. But God will always love us. Pass or fail.
And that is all we too are required to do. Love.
LOVE this post, Jean! Thank you!