What’s on Your Bucket List?

“When Joshua was an old man, the LORD said to him, ‘You are growing old, and much land remains to be conquered.'” Joshua 13:1 NLT

The term ‘bucket list’ has been gaining popularity over the last few years since its conception twenty-five years ago. In 1999 Justin Zackham, an American and British screenwriter, using the phrase ‘kick the bucket’ pertaining to death created his own ‘bucket list’ of things he wanted to accomplish before he died. Number one on his list was to get a screenplay made at a Hollywood studio. He eventually wrote the screenplay for the movie ‘The Bucket List’ in 2007 starring Jack Nicholson and Morgen Freeman which increased its popularity. Since then, the concept of putting together a list of things one wants to do has been adopted by many people, especially those of the older generation.

Preparing a bucket list for some people involves careful planning, thinking through every detail to what, when, and where. Then there are others who don’t hesitate in crafting their list, it’s a no brainer, I’m going to do it. Preparing a bucket list for your life should be an on-going project for everyone, especially Christians whatever our age. Stanford Medicine reports the following, “The focus of a bucket list is to live a life with hopes and aspirations. Making a bucket list allows us to reflect on our values and goals and identify important milestones and experiences that we want to have in our lifetime.” (1) And I would like to add that we consult with God, our creator, with what’s on His bucket list for us to accomplished before He calls us home. We don’t want to leave any unfinished business.

God had a few things on His bucket list for Joshua in his senior years. Joshua was charged with leading Israel in conquering the land God had given them. He was to divide the land seeing that each tribe got their portion. The Lord said to Joshua, “You are growing old, and much land remains to be conquered.” (Jos.13:1b nlt) There was still much of the Lord’s work to be done. This may have been the last item on Joshua’s bucket list from the Lord. He would not be able to physically complete the conquering of the land, but he could give instructions to those who would come after him while he divided the land for them. Joshua’s bucket list from the Lord was filled.

So, what’s on your bucket list? Have you left room for God’s items to be added? We may not be able to accomplish everything on our list, but with God’s help we can fill His bucket list He has assigned us so none of His work will go undone.  

(1) https://med.stanford.edu/letter/bucket-list/what-is-bucket-list.html#:~:text=A%20bucket%20list%20is%20a,the%20bucket%E2%80%9D%20%E2%80%94%20or%20die.