I am never first in line at a movie. The fact is I don’t go to movies.
It is not that I am against a quality and uplifting movie. I don’t like the hassle and expense of going to the theater. I catch them as the producers are taking their final shot at making a buck from a dead spot on television.
Five years ago The Bucket List, starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Lemmons premiered. It caught the imagination of men and women alike. People continue to talk about their personal bucket list.
Recently—not to be the only unknowledgeable person in the world—I watched the movie for the first time on my home television while sitting in my recliner. Should I list everything I want to do and everywhere I want to go prior to the end of my life?
If I owned a Leer Jet and an endless flow of $$$$, I might be tempted to make my list—but I doubt it. I don’t even make New Year’s resolutions.
The thought occurs to me, what if instead of making a bucket list of things to do and experience, I make instead a “To Be List?” What would I place on it? How would I go about checking off each completed item?
Before considering the completion strategy, what would my list look like? Here it is:
- Love
- Joy
- Peace
- Forbearance
- Kindness
- Goodness
- Faithfulness
- Gentleness
- Self-Control
The Apostle Paul describes my list as fruits of the Spirit. How about that for a worthy “To Be List?” A Leer Jet and an endless flow of $$$$ won’t help me here.
At first glance, I don’t like my list. I see two huge problems. I love to check off completed tasks. It gives me the allusion of progress. I would miss that buzz on my list of nine. It doesn’t seem possible to place a check by Love or Goodness declaring my arrival.
The second problem is I don’t have the ability on my own to make a single check on my list. To not scream, wad the list in my hand, and throw it at the wall, I remember how God looks at my list.
He shows me His point of view at the end of this very same list used by Paul to challenge the church of Galatia. It is only possible to attack the list with success by belonging to Christ. By belonging, I receive divine aid because I now live by the Spirit. By keeping in step with the Spirit, I make progress on my “To Be List.”
Arrival and check off marks never take place while on my journey to the garden.
Being in consistent growth mode, I can honor Paul’s final caution against conceit. On my own, I am unable to draw lines through the list items. There will never be basis for conceit.
Whatever progress I make on my “To Be List,” is only possible by the grace of God through Jesus, and His Holy Spirit.
As I pass through the gate of the Garden of God, a quill-writing pen filled with the blood of Jesus will strike though the list of nine and declare it complete. And, by that blood, I will “Be.”
Stay tuned. Will you think about dedicating your life to the Spirit’s “To Be List?” It will be wonderful beyond description to one day “Be.”
Gary J. Sorrells
God Reflection 