A friend of mine recently checked an item off his bucket list: playing The Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland, the course commonly thought of as the birthplace of golf, dating back to the 1400s. As he crossed the iconic Swilcon bridge on the last hole, Dan created a 30-second video of him presenting pictures he had printed for this occasion. Each picture was a photo of someone who had built into his life who made the bucket list moment possible: from his uncle who introduced golf to his family, to his wife whose love instills in him the capacity to cherish all things, including bucket-list moments like this. It’s a heart-warming video that leaves you emotional, inspired and motivated.
The emotion and inspiration are fueled by the big heart of my good friend and the graciousness with which he navigates life, no matter what it throws his way. The motivation comes from a series of questions that come rapid fire after watching such an inspiring video: Who am I building into? Who builds into me? Am I expressing gratitude to these people?
These are worthy questions, especially since they are deeply rooted in biblical precedent. The apostle Paul, a hard-working, bucket-list driven missionary, closed nearly every letter he wrote with his form of a bucket-list “thank you” video. Romans 16 and Colossians 4 are the most extensive with Paul citing dozens of names in just a few verses. In these lists, we not only get a glimpse into the working mechanisms of the early church, we see the support system that sustained Paul and helped launch the church era.
In these verses we see people working hard, wrestling in prayer, carrying the load, laboring, and picking up the slack. Paul describes them as devoted, faithful, helpful, refreshing, and encouraging. He sends his greetings and passes theirs along. He asks for help from them and offers help to them. These lists of names, which are often seen as the “begats” of the New Testament and therefore haphazardly read, are a compilation of people who have accomplished something far greater together than they could have on their own.
So, why not create your own Romans 16 or Colossians 4 chapter? What’s on your spiritual bucket list and who are the people in your life helping you carry your bucket? Take a couple minutes to write out a spiritual bucket list. This might include internal items like stopping a bad habit, starting a good habit, or gaining ground over a destructive attitude. It might include external items like taking care of the “least of these” whom God brings into your life. Then take a few minutes to touch base with those who have helped you or with those whom you’d like to ask for help in completing your spiritual bucket list.
If you’re stumped on creating a spiritual bucket list, the New Testament is full of bucket list items. And it’s packed with instructions on carrying each other’s buckets.
Happy listing and carrying.
Check out this blog in the form of a 3-minute video devo (videvo?) here.