Precision Measurements

Have you ever tried to build a bookcase? What about put a bike together? Maybe you're trying to replace some widget in an appliance. Hang wallpaper or retile a room. Maybe you're more ambitious, and you're putting an addition on your house.
Whatever you're building or repairing, you know that to build or construct properly, you need to measure precisely. Very precisely. If the measurements are off even a fraction of an inch, a smidgen of a millimeter, the whole project could fall apart.
Edges have to match; nuts-washers-screws have to be the same size and the right size. A misaligned window, even slightly, and all sorts of leaks can start.
In a sense, every Jew is a master builder, and a precision engineer. For we are commanded "build Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." Just as the sanctuary made of stone and other material had to be built to the exact measurements and specific detail, so too each of us must build our "mini-Sanctuary" - our lives and our section of the world according to the specifications in our "instruction manual," the Torah.
For a builder, the tape measure is critical; so too when we are building G-dliness and goodness into the world, we must use the tape measure of the soul.
What does this mean? It means we have to be careful with our abilities and talents, to be conscientious with our opportunities, not to waste the smallest particular of who we are and what we can do. We must use what G-d has given us in the fullest measure, to the last iota, and for the G-d given purpose of serving the Creator.
When fulfilling a mitzva (commandment), it must be done down to the last detail, going the extra step ( known as hiddur, or beautifying, the mitzva).
The same precise measurements apply to our use of time - whatever we're doing, we can use every moment to serve G-d. We can conduct our business in an ethical manner, we can converse without speaking badly of another person, we can eat and drink kosher food after having recited a blessing over the food. We can relax and sleep knowing that after resting we will be reinvigorated to serve G-d in a complete and precise manner.
If we've measured out our activities for twenty three hours and fifty-nine minutes - allotting exactly the right portion of it to prayer, to study, to mitzvos, to work, to eating, sleeping and relaxing, as necessary - we still can't allow ourselves to waste that last minute.
This applies not only to ourselves, but to our part of the world, our sphere of influence and contact with others, and our activity with and use of the material of the earth.
When each of use uses our G-d-given abilities precisely and accu-rately, to elevate ourselves and our surroundings, so that no speck or scrap is left over, superfluous, extra or unused, then we, and others, and the world itself fulfill the mission and task of creation, to transform the world into a dwelling place - a properly and precisely built dwelling place - for G-dliness.