Tonight I pulled out a journaling book that I started in 2007… it has in it, among other gatherings of words… my Bucket List. One hundred things I want to do in my lifetime. It’s been at least a year since I went through the list… that only goes up to 72 at the moment. When I accomplish a listed item I highlight it. There were eight lines highlighted already. Surprisingly, tonight I highlighted three items from 2009 that were accomplished.
I read somewhere long ago that if you write down your goals your brain grasps onto them subconsciously and even if you’re not remembering them… you are drawn to accomplish them. I’m not sure if I believed that until I was married about 14 years and came across my scrapbook from my senior year of high school. There was a page for 1 year, 5 year and 10 year goals. What 18-year-old has any clue what they will be doing when they are 28??? Please. Unbelievably, all the goals that I wrote down had been successfully completed… without me remembering that I jotted them in my scrapbook in 1984.
Back to tonight and my Bucket List. In case you live in a cave, a movie came out a few years back called the Bucket List and the premise was about two old guys determined to live out life’s wishes before they kicked the bucket. I never saw it. Anywho…. I highlighted three lines on my list tonight.
#10. Take the kids on a missions trip. Larisa, Austin and I went to La Mision, Mexico last summer… and it was Austin’s first time seeing an impoverished city. It changed him, as I knew it would. My 11-year-old son still is on the list to go, but I highlighted it anyway. I firmly believe every American kid needs to see poverty, desperate need, and the happiness that is still available in spite of living conditions. We are so spoiled blessed.
#51. Live close to the church. For more than 10 years we have driven 30 minutes to church. When your kids want to get more involved… an hour round-trip is a long way. When gas is over $3 a gallon, every little trip counts. Little did I know that we would be changing churches in 2009 and the new one is 8 minutes away. Glory!
#61. Publish a book for married women. Last September my book Learning to Laugh in the Midst of Marriage came out. Sweet! The book was not even started when I made the list! See…. subconsciously!
Some of my other entries include traveling to far away spots on God’s green earth that I have studied and long to see. Others involve helping others, teaching the kids new tricks, taking an emergency truck ramp…. quit laughing… they are so tempting, learning a few tricks myself and reaching many for God’s kingdom. I believe 2010 will bring at least three more highlighted lines… maybe more!
Do you have a Bucket List?
Tags: book published, Bucket List, church, emergency truck ramp, goals, God, God's kingdom, heaven, journal, journaling, La Mision, laughing in the midst of marriage, married, married women, mexico, missions trip, mom, motherhood, third world country, wife, writing goals
My Sister's Jar 
May 30, 2010 at 11:33 pm |
Lol I do, but unfortunately I’m not a subconscious fulfiller like u :-P Good job!
May 31, 2010 at 11:14 am |
Any way you could somehow discretely remove that “emergency truck ramp” desire from you list?
May 31, 2010 at 11:15 am |
Have you taken one? I need to know the thrill of it!
May 31, 2010 at 5:02 pm |
The potential costs of hiring a wrecker to tow you out of the soft “stuff” and the Highway Dept. costs for having to smooth it out would nullify the thrill for me. How about substituting the tallest water slide you can find where you end up in a nice soft pool of water.
June 8, 2010 at 8:07 pm |
I was joking with my sister the other day about an anti-bucket list … things we NEVER want to experience in our lives. Here’s what we came up with:
Seeing our brother-in-law (any of them) naked.
… um …
and now my brain went blank and I can’t remember the rest our list. :)
October 3, 2011 at 7:45 pm |
missions trip…
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