What’s on your spiritual Bucket List??

Sometimes throughout our lives, we stop and take an inventory of what we hope we will accomplish at some point in our lives. We think of the things we’ve been able to do and accomplish so far, but also what we want to do in the future to feel fulfilled. It’s a wish list that might include places we’d like to visit, adventures we’d like to have, a person we’d like to meet, a performer we’d like to hear in person or a milestone we’d like to reach in our work. And then, having made the list, we need to be intentional about keeping it before us and trying to do what we can to accomplish some of what we hope for.

My bucket list is primarily places I’d like to go … England, the Holy Land, a Caribbean cruise, Alaska. Surprisingly, I enjoy things too that have some adventure to them like kayaking on the ocean while we were in Newfoundland or white water rafting down the Ottawa River. This summer I’m hoping to go out on a Zodiak while we’re on Cape Breton Island. Last summer I thought of going out on an Sea doo and even sky diving when I saw someone else up there attached to a guide who knew what they were doing.

Who knows what of that list I’ll actually do, especially the more adventurous as I get older and maybe a bit wiser too. But I do want to visit those various places and trust that someday, in retirement especially, I will see these parts of the world that are on my bucket list.

I wonder, what might be on our spiritual bucket list … what are the things we’d like to experience that are of God, that touch us deeply within the depths of our souls; what would we like to experience of holiness and the sacred that might transform us and our relationships with God. Having a spiritual bucket list reminds us that there is always room for us to grow in our faith and how we are called to be faithful disciples of Jesus.

For me, I’d love to see and capture on my camera the most glorious rainbow in the sky, or an awe inspiring sunset, or an eagle flying in the sky, or a whale breaching. I would like one day to experience standing where Jesus stood and celebrating the Eucharist where he might have shared communion with His disciples. I look forward to standing in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral where Archbishop Thomas Becket was martyred. Spiritually, I hope I continue to recognize God in the everyday moments and to receive the grace God desires to offer me in my life. I trust that as time moves along, I will integrate more and more my faith and my spirituality into my day to day living in ways that can make a difference. I pray that God will use me in ways that I can’t even imagine to share the good news of Jesus and the hope of the kingdom to come. I also anticipate seeing and recognizes the miracles that bring joy to my life and others and to in the end be able to simply enjoy the moment of now whatever that moment presents.

In truth, none of us know for sure what we will experience day to day, and especially spiritually. God has amazing things in store for us to experience. It’s a good discipline and rhythm to name what we hope for and then do what we can to allow those hopes to grow into fruition. But we always need to remember too that spiritually it is God who will initiate those moments of grace for us, when the mystery is unmasked before us and we recognize the holy and sacred of that very experience. We can’t necessarily anticipate what those experiences may be; God may well surprise us. Whether on our bucket list or not, that spiritual experience will be a blessing.

I encourage all of us to take a moment and think, what do we most want to experience in our spiritual lives of faith, write down a list, and then as life continues enable those opportunities that God can and will open the doors that we will see, recognize and experience the vastness of God’s grace.

What is on your spiritual bucket list?
I offer us this prayer to accomplish spiritually what God hopes for us …
Lord, I earnestly seek after You
I seek Your kingdom, Your will
That heaven may come to earth
And Your presence would be known by all

I lay my plans before You
Please rearrange them as You see fit
See if there is any thing I need to let go of
And lead me in discerning your will for me and my life.

I give you the desires of my heart
My ambitions and my bucket list
I surrender them wholly to You
Please anoint them for Your purposes and glory

I give You my whole being
My giftings and my character
Come sharpen my skills and transform my heart
This day and every day. Amen.

Remember, if you have a question, I encourage you to send it to me in an email and I will do my best to answer it either in a weekly update or in a sermon.

As always, my inbox is open, and so is my office door if you’d like to chat. I’m usually in my office most mornings Monday through Thursday unless otherwise announced due to a meeting. Stop by or make an appointment!

Take care and have a blessed day and week!

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