Yesterday I taught a lesson at church about Continuing Revelation and Correlation. It was one of those clumsy lessons that really started to crystallize in my mind after I gave the lesson. Which reminds me again that, like most callings, I'm the one who learns and gains the most from my "service."
How do the pieces of my life correlate? Does what I do every day match what I believe?
In military intelligence usage, correlation is "the process which associates and combines data on a single entity or subject from independent observations, in order to improve the reliability or credibility of the information." In statistics it means something having to do with that graph above.
In the Church Correlation Committee, the focus is on:
purity of doctrine
family and the home
priesthood direction (Jesus Christ)
unity and order
simplicity
proper relationships
Is the stuff I spend my time and resources on the most reliable stuff? Do I get my strength and sustenance from the most credible sources?
Not all the time. But I hope the sum of all I do ends up looking sort of like that graph above, with the steadily upward-climbing line being clear amidst all the noise.
Correlation means stepping back and thinking about these sorts of things every once in a while. It means connecting with my husband to make sure we're on the same page. It means turning to the scriptures to see if I'm still aligned with the truths in those pages. It means hanging out with my kids to see if I still "get" what their ever-changing minds are thinking and worrying about. It means looking back on my life and seeing some paths and dreams I'd like to retrace and revitalize. It means connecting with the older people in my life and realizing that they know a lot more than I thought they did about pretty much everything.
My grandma was on the original Correlation Committee of the Church for 10 years. I called her up to ask about her experience before I gave my lesson. I found I couldn't ask the right questions to get to the heart of what I thought it was all about—I couldn't get my mind to correlate with Grandma's. I quoted her in my lesson, but it ended up being awkward, probably because I didn't say that she was my grandmother, afraid that people might judge me based on her prominence.
My mom, who is older and wiser, is teaching the same lesson in her ward next week. She has invited Grandma (her mother) to come to the lesson and talk in person about Correlation. This surprised me and made me feel sheepish that I tried to distance myself from her in my lesson, not wanting to own up to the correlation between my life and hers.
Correlation could also mean looking back on and reconnecting with my roots, and owning all of them. It's realizing that I am the sum of all of the people in my life, especially the ones I grew up with and formed my reality with. Grandma was the one in my formative years who told me I was the smartest and the greatest, and I know she believed it (and still does). Though I no longer believe her all the time, I realize that who I am is in part because of her, and in some ways I am her. Denying that doesn't change anything. Owning it might. Every experience and every person in my life doesn't need to be completely aligned with perfect or right, as long as I return to perfect and right (God) often enough to make sure my graph lines up in the long run.
Correlation is coming back "home" after exploring the world. It's realizing that everything you ever dreamed of was there all along.
