This is where we begin.

I have this problem.
I always give myself a huge laundry list of things to do before I go on a trip.
Unnecessary things.

Like sewing a little holder for my boarding passes because I claim I always lose them in my carry-on.
Or like turning a pair of flip-flops into gladiator sandals, because I wanted new shoes, but didn't want to pay for them.
Or like re-landscaping my whole yard.
Or sorting through every article of everything I have ever owned.
I say yes to new clients, and yes to old clients, and yes to friendly get-togethers, all the while still somehow thinking I am going to accomplish said laundry list BEFORE I need to leave for my trip.
Needless to say, the list never gets done, I still have nothing to put boarding passes in, and I frantically run around trying to pack a suitcase, althewhile failing miserably to ask my friend, "Where did we decide to meet before we go to the airport?"
A little delay here, a little failure at accomplishing things there, and it all makes me go weak in the knees and heart and think, "LORD!! How can I screw things up so much and be such a loser?!!!"

I sigh. Feeling more than slightly defeated; a little bit like I don't measure up.

And then Jesus...
Don't you love when that line comes in a story? I think it comes because Jesus doesn't really like his Beloved to feel too defeated for too long.

"And then Jesus said..." "And then Jesus did..." "And then Jesus turned...." "And then Jesus made...."
In my case it was an, "And then Jesus said.....'You can go about and do all of those things or not do all of those things, that's fine, just remember---I have already accomplished everything."

Hmm.
There is something in me that gets great sense of worth out of accomplishing things. Seeing progress, or results, DOING things, moving the story along.
But how often do I actually remind myself, "These things can be good, or necessary, and I have freedom to do them. But they are not what gives me my worth. They are not what determines whether I am a failure or not. Everything that ever needed to be done, Jesus did. He has already accomplished it."
 I guess you could say, "How often do we remind ourselves that the truth of the story is that it is always an, 'And then Jesus....'?"
What a great truth.
He has already accomplished it.
Whatever it is. Whatever form of value or worth I am trying to pull out of all my efforts, he has already bought for me, done for me, made for me.
Value does not come in the doing, but in the One who did.
~~
In other news, my little GO-ing involves airplanes tomorrow.

Here are some more hints. This is a list of NOTS:
San Diego. Tokyo. Berlin. Paris. Lima, Peru. Bangladesh. To climb Everest.
I have no real probabilities of eating horse, octopus, or jellyfish (all of which I have done in the past, but don't foresee doing THIS trip).
I will not be on the continent of Russia.
It doens't involve camels, elephants, or lizzards (hopefully about the lizards---a little disappointing about the elephants).

Ok, that's all the clue for now.