The Bucket List

Every Semester as part of our children’s health class in our school district, the pupils are given an assignment of creating a bucket list for themselves.  For those of you who might not know for some reason, a “bucket list” is a list of things a person would want to do before they died.  It comes from the old phrase “to kick the bucket”, which most people know is kind of a slang term for dying.  The idea was popularized by a movie of that name starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman that came out in 2007. 

In the movie we see two old dying men gallivanting around the world fulfilling their dreams and accomplishing goals.  The Morgan Freeman character then comes to an epiphany about what the two were doing and decides that rather than fulfilling personal alone, he would rather try and spend his final days with family and close friends.  The adventures end and we see the difference between fulfilling the selfish desires portrayed by Nicholson as he spends a lonely holiday by himself as compared with the more selfless Freeman who is seen loving and laughing with family.

When a child of 13, 14, 15 years old is asked to do such an assignment, they usually default to a list of desires and achievements purely to satisfy their own lusts and desires.  They all want to hang with that famous musician or movie star, drive some fancy car, participate in some extreme sport, go to some distant exotic place, and do all this with their best friends.  I rarely see family time involved, but really that, I think, is beside the point.

This kind of a lesson could be a wonderful teaching opportunity for the children, but it really gets passed by.  All that happens is another reinforcement of the “me first” mentality.  The school is not allowed to judge, direct, guide, the students in any way.  It is deemed ‘healthy’ for the students to express their selfish desires without judgment or critique, without any values placed on their choices.  The most important value is that their self-esteem not be hindered in any way and even promoted. 

What is wrong with that?  One may ask.  Our children should be told how special they are and we should never harm a children’s ego or they may be scarred for life with feelings of inferiority or complexes for which they will need to be medicated and seek counseling for.   A child can’t be told that any value they hold is right or wrong.  All viewpoints are to be validated and not judged.  We’ve all heard this secular humanist argument before, and for many years.  It has failed.

Our children have been dumbed down to the lowest common denominators educationally, socially, and morally in the effort to not leave anyone behind, or to not make anyone feel like a failure, to not bruise any ego and to promote a positive attitude towards one’s self.  No one is punished for doing wrong, and everyone is rewarded whether they achieved or not. Everyone is made to feel like they are right (even when they are not).

The opportunity that is missed in the educational process in an assignment like this is truth.  It is a fantastic moment of teachability to our youth about how to properly prioritize our lives.  It is a grand moment where death, and what comes after, can be discussed.  It is a perfect time where different world views can be compared, analyzed, and scrutinized.  Yet, the powers that be in the educational world deny this wonderful learning moment in favor of teaching the kids that the only truth is whatever they feel is truth; that there are no absolutes.

In the Bible, we are given a bucket list to live by.  It starts with love the Lord your God who created you and to serve Him alone, believing upon His son Jesus who God sent to reconcile mankind to the Father.   It ends with loving your neighbor as yourself.     It is filled with great and noble works such as feeding the poor, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned.  It lists as good, things like taking care of widows and orphans; helping strangers in need.  Also on the list the difficult tasks of loving your enemies and doing good to those who are not good to you.  We could learn the great value in forgiving others and turning the other cheek.  Even perhaps the hardest thing of all, and one which shows no greater love, laying down ones life for another. 

We can only barely even imagine what life would be like were those things were on our bucket list.  I can scarcely imagine the great joys and peace that would be felt in a world where everyone is looking out for his fellow man and the best interest of others is the first priority on everyone’s mind.  Nor can I totally imagine a world completely devoid of any of them.  What a dark and horrid place this world will be when the full force of evil is unleashed and the spirit of God is removed.

Number one on the Biblical bucket list is to share this good news.  We are to tell others of how Jesus has made it possible for us to be forgiven of our selfish, lustful, evil ways and being reconciled to Father God through His precious shed blood; how Jesus rose again on the 3^rd day defeating death and clearing the path that through Him we might pass from death unto life.  That through the Holy Spirit that indwells us when we believe, that we will be capable of living out the Bucket list given to us in the God inspired words of the Bible.