the List

well my dear ones,

Many apologies; time flies.

What have I been doing for the last month?

Well, I can tell you what I haven't been doing;

I haven' been working on my List,

what people commonly refer to these days

as "the Bucket List,"

as in the list of things people make

of activities they'd like to do

before they "kick the bucket."

I know there was a movie (2007)

of the same name,

but I never bothered to see it,

despite that it stars two of my

favorite actors.

That the movie exists doesn't bother me as much

as the existence of bucketlist.org and

the rest of the similar sites

that seem to have been spawned by the movie.

No offense to any of you who have such a list;

but in my book, it just doesn't compute.

I know that God loves each one of us

more than we, in this lifetime, anyway,

can ever possibly believe;

AND, God has better plans for each of us

than we could conceive of for ourselves.

That being the case, it seems to me,

if I were to make a bucket list,

it would appear to be like me saying,

"Hey God, I know you made me,

however, now, I'M gonna do things my way;

first, I'M gonna do A;

then, I'M gonna do B, C, D, etc."

Seems a bit presumptuous if you get my meaning,

especially for someone like me

who can't even add a second to his own lifeline.

I tend to focus more on praying for God

to reveal the stuff that God would have me do.

I pray (if it be God's will) that I might

live to see my wife totally cured of M.S.

I pray that I might get

a new heart and a new spirit

that I might better determine God's will

for my life

and better help those placed in my path.

I hope and pray that

if everyone my wife and I are trying to help

no longer needed any help,

and if every animal in the sanctuary

took off for greener pastures,

that, rather than be sad about that,

I'd merely say,

"The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away,"

and then I'd go out and seek out

other people who needed help

(for there will always be such)

and find other animals in need of rescue

(no shortage of those either).

In short, I have no need of a bucket list;

each day,

God leads me to new and cooler things

that I ought to be doing

(while giving me the free will to choose

 to be in alignment with God's will

 or to follow my own [which, by the way

 never works out all that well *lol*]).

A bucket list would be OK

for one who wishes to live like they were dying

(more on that one another day);

I choose to live like one who will never die,

but rather see eternal life

(i.e. will inherit Deep Heaven).

One thing I can guarantee you is this:

if you choose to adopt a path

similar to mine,

God will pour into your life

more blessings than you can believe;

you will work good works

that have been prepared for you

from the foundation of the world;

and you will surely have no need at all

for a bucket list.  =)

Have a great week!

grace, peace, and love to you,

dave



"For I know the plans I have for you,"

declares the Lord,

"plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

 plans to give you hope and a future."


            --- Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)