God Gracious

It’s become fashionable in recent years for people to announce that they have directed their minds to things that they hope to acquire or events they wish to participate in or places they wish to visit during their lifetime. This is often referred to as the “bucket list”. This activity is not new. It’s likely been around as long as people have. Most of us day dream about what we want to accomplish in this life and as we get older and the projected time ahead of us becomes more finite, the day dreams become more concrete as we endeavor to flesh them out by ticking off the items on the bucket list as they are realized.

Our human nature, of course, propels us to look at this issue in the context of satisfying our own needs or our own curiosity because our human nature tends to view all things in the realm of the material often without regard to the long view. Those equipped to take the long view will look at the issue in much broader terms recognizing that they are on a pilgrimage and that the material is transitory and that 100 years from now who will care what was on your bucket list if it didn’t reflect the designs of the Almighty. What will really matter is how you fared on the walk of life in terms of your eternal destination.

With all this in mind then, we might reconsider how we have put together our bucket list. As is always the case when evaluating the material, we need to remember that the material was created by God and is therefore good. We also need to remember that it becomes something else when we grasp it and want to possess it to the exclusion of God. The remedy then is to defer to God and to seek to create our bucket lists so that they reflect our yearning to be with God now and eternally after our life here is finished.

Our own dreams and God’s dreams for us may differ markedly. God views the future, the past and the present simultaneously and God created each of us to accomplish certain things during our lifetime. We need therefore in preparing our bucket list to discern how we have been called to discipleship. In other words, we need the eternal overview because how we plan and how we execute our bucket list activities has ramifications not only for us but for others who rely on us to perform as God has designed us to perform.

If you have a bucket list, take some time to analyze it from the spiritual perspective. How does it fit with your giftedness? How do others benefit as you move to realize your bucket list goals? Above all, how does it benefit your spiritual growth as you seek to continue to relationship build with your Creator? You may find that some of those items on the bucket list become obsolete as you fashion your new list to reflect God’s will. No doubt God has some surprises in store for you that will bring you joy. Happy hunting!