The Bucket List

Sandra shocked me the other day. She said “I guess we’ve done it all. We don’t have anything left on our bucket list!” Maybe I better explain, my bucket list is the things I hope to do before I “kick-the-bucket.”
My bucket list is as long today as it ever was! Due to my age and my health I’ve had to modify my list quite a bit but I still have many things on my list that I plan to do. Maybe, more important those unexpected things God puts in my path.
Just because I can’t travel long distances or that I can’t stand for long times doesn’t mean God has cancelled many of His plans for me. There are still many people in need of hugs, or people just wanting someone to listen to them, or people wanting no more than an encouraging word. It is surprising how much can be accomplished while sitting in a chair.
I’m sure God knows that there is much of His work I can still do or He would have taken me Home long ago. God never gives us things to do that He doesn’t already know that we are capable of doing. Many times we think that we have been given things to do that are way beyond us but you have to realize that He knows our capabilities much more than we ourselves do.
Many times I’ve found God’s challenges for me to be nothing more than a wakeup call. I look upon my bucket list as more of a fun list than a work list. Actually it’s more of a challenge list for me. On my list are many things that, a few years ago I could have knocked out in less than an hour, while today it may take me all of a day. That doesn’t mean I’m going to give them up and admit defeat!
At other times I find God’s challenges to me have ended up as great learning experiences. A good example is the blog your reading right now.
Many of my accomplishments of today would never have happened if I would have used some of the excuses I have heard from others, many younger than me. The excuses I hear the most from people my age are; “I can’t learn all that technical stuff” or “I’m too old to do that”. My comeback for that is; “how do you know if you won’t even try?” Years ago I learned that excuses were easy but work was hard. Just because “it wouldn’t be easy” never stopped me from trying!
I’m going to give you an example of how easily my bucket list changes; I have a greenhouse in my back yard. When I first built it I covered it with corrugated plastic panels. Through the years this plastic has yellowed and started to look nasty.
In late October my neighbor replaced one of her windows and put the old one out for the trash man. As I drove past that window I started thinking how good that old window would look in my greenhouse.
Today my neighbor’s old window, along with four others I found along the way, has replaced all of that nasty old yellow plastic in my greenhouse. When I looked at that first old window I felt it was God’s challenge for me.
For several years every time I walked into my greenhouse I would be unhappy with those yellowed panels but yet my greenhouse was near the bottom of my bucket list. Apparently God wasn’t overjoyed with them either for He knew that just one look at my neighbors throw away window would get my juices flowing and move my greenhouse to the top of my bucket list.
As you can see, my bucket list isn’t written in stone. I look upon those unexpected gifts laid at my feet by my Father in Heaven were put there to make my life interesting. I leave a lot of room at both the top and bottom of my bucket list. That way I have plenty of room for my next surprise. I don’t know when that will be but I’m sure it’s on its way. Life is good, though not always easy, but never boring. May your list be long.