By this age, Jesus had . . .

Yesterday we celebrated my birthday. We had a nice breakfast together. When I got home from church one of the ladies from church was at our house--she had offered to watch the boys so Beth and I could go for a walk. We perused the neighbourhood, enjoying the blooms and blossoms. It was the first time we had held hands while walking in quite a while. We borrowed our neighbour's picnic table and had a picnic out behind our house.

I've been realizing that at this point in Jesus' life, he had one year left to accomplish all He had to do while He was on earth. It does make one reflective of what you've accomplished in life thus far. But that's the trap we're lured into, isn't it? We try to judge the value of our life based on our accomplishments (Homer's trap was to compare himself to Thomas Edison). But our self-worth isn't based on doing. Even Jesus' life wasn't about what He accomplished (though, of course, His work and teachings were important), but it was all about His relationship with the Father. That's all we really have for assessing our place in life as well. Evaluate whether we're becoming more like Christ or not, if we're growing closer to God. Jesus always had more lepers to heal, more demons to cast out, more people to raise from the dead. There was plenty more He could have taught the disciples. And what crowd wouldn't want to hear more parables? Yes, we're called to do all we do to the glory of God (and therefore, to be about it in the most excellent manner), but we're not called to do everything we could possibly do. We are called to be all that we can be (pardon me, armed forces)--and all that we're to be is found in our relationship with God. That's where we find our individuality, while also discovering that we're uniquely created in God's image.