Jesus at Work

In my adult life I have worked a lot of jobs in the service arena. This has been contrary to my educational background (literature and writing) and my personal aspirations. By this point in life most of us have realized that we may not land that perfect dream job, but we still have to eat. I have had more than one job that I would like to forget, more than one person yelling at me and/or calling me rude names for circumstances that I did not cause, and I have gone home in tears from more than one work day. Some days I just want to tell people: Please, this isn't what I want either, I'm just trying to make ends meet. I have also had days when I could have handled a situation better, could hace been kinder or more patient with some one, and could have gone to bed with a little more peace in my mind and heart.

This brings me to thought about the Savior that has been on my mind a lot the in the last week or so. Aside from his early childhood, Gospel accounts only give us about three years of Jesus Christ's life on Earth. Jesus began his ministry at the age of 3o. At 33 he was crucified, resurrected and ascended back into Heaven. Those three years are fundamental to the faith, but one wonders what his adult life was like before his ministry? Jesus held a job. In his book Jesus, Seeing Him More Clearly Bill Hybels reminds the reader that Jesus spent more time working in the marketplace than he did any where else during his life on earth. It was probably a hot, smelly marketplace that was full of rude and disgruntled people. The Savior was a carpenter and I think that he enjoyed work. He dealt with difficult people on a daily basis. Maybe the part of him that was human woke some mornings and wanted a few more hours of sleep before going into work. Maybe he even had a few days that he was glad that business was light. We know that Christ was God as well as a man, but I wonder what his daily human life was like. When he was my age he was getting up and going to work every day. He worked a long, hard day and come home tired. He may have gotten the shorthand of the financial stick on occasion. He knew what it was like to work hard for the public and listen to their complaints. He handled it with perfect grace and calmness. I wonder how much I reflect and emulate him when my work has me feeling exasperated, tired, insulted, or hurt?