Studying for Time-Sensitive Tests

Over the past two days, I spent at least three-and-a-half hours preparing for a 20-minute quiz. Today, I took that quiz, and I aced it. I got every question right. This success came mostly because of the time I had invested in my preparation. Though it may seem a bit extreme to spend ten times the amount of time preparing for something as the thing itself will take, it worked. The hours I spent studying, and the notes I made with that time, allowed me to quickly access the information I needed when I needed it most. In fact, because of my notes, I was able to access the information quickly enough to answer every question confidently in only ten minutes - Only half the time that I was given. Thank goodness it was an open-notes quiz!

In life, we are frequently put to time-sensitive tests. We are asked to make important decisions, and sometimes, we aren't given very much time to make our choices. When we're faced with temptation, we aren't always given all the time we needed to mull the decision over; we need to choose whether we'll yield or resist as soon as the temptation enters our minds. Fortunately, while we are occasionally forced to make split-second decisions, we can spend some time preparing for those decisions in advance. To prepare ourselves for our moral tests, we can study the scriptures and strive to develop Christlike attributes, which will attract the Spirit and help make the right decision easier, almost automatic, to make. We may be given only a few moments to do the right thing, but we can take all the time we need before the quiz to find out what the right thing is and to prepare ourselves to do it.

When it comes to life's moral tests, we may only be given a few moments to make our decisions, but we can prepare ourselves well in advance. Like Captain Moroni building walls around Nephite cities, we can shore up our spiritual defences long before we need them, and that will help us be prepared when our faith and faithfulness are tested. When we face the tests of life, we won't have much time in which to take them, but if we begin preparing early, it won't take us much time to make the right decision.