100 Things to Do Before I Die

On my 40th Birthday I created a bucket list, consisting of one hundred things to do before I died. It was a hard list to make, I mean it was hard to come up with one hundred things that I really wanted to do before I died. Mostly I really wanted a lot of quality experiences with my family....but I had to put some pretty bizarre stuff on there to get to one hundred. At the same time, my daughter and I compared lists and it was funny to see some of the contrasts on our lists. For example; I wanted to "be picked from the crowd to get a kiss from Shamu" and she wanted to, "dive with killer whales." This clearly demonstrated the difference between our ages - and our different levels of willingness to risk in life. My daughter is brave and also she is willing to try things I am completely unwilling to. For example, after we became certified, the first dive she did was a night dive! So courageous, for me - I was certain I would be eaten by something in the deep dark sea, so I stayed behind; and after 4 years still haven't mustered the courage to do it, but it is on my bucket list.
Lately since leaving Worship Leader Magazine, I am working on a new list; my gratitude list. Things I am grateful for in my life. It is easy when you are going through hard times to become angry and bitter. And I am revising my bucket list. Some of the absurd items are coming off, and I am adding things to my list that really matter to me, like, "learn to forgive my enemies." That one may come as I draw my last breath, but its certainly worthy of the list! A couple weeks ago a friend of mine, Tracie was diagnosed with cancer. She has given me permission to share her amazing story. She is at the beginning of her cancer journey. She is working on her lists with me; and one of her bucket list items is a tattoo at LA Ink, and to be on a TV Show, also to be on a Radio Show. We are working together to get her in Mid-March of this year to LA Ink. So yesterday while in LA we went up to LA Ink and did a little scouting trip. It was so different than I thought it would be.
We walked in to this little tiny shop and I guess I thought I would see Kat Von D right there, my husband took a seat in the pink coffin window seat with Gigi while we talked to the gentlemen at the front desk. It was very surreal.
All this to say, its good to have goals and things to live for, little things like LA Ink, and big things like, "learn to forgive my enemies." What is on your bucket list? What is on your gratitude list? These two lists are what I am meditating on right now and working to stay focused on because the distractions of life tend to want to pull me into the wrong focus right now, they want to pull me into my fleshly nature, into all the trappings of life - not at all where God intends or desires me to be.
I am so proud of my friend Tracie for starting her bucket list. It doesn't take a cancer diagnosis to start fighting for your life.....or living for life's little and big adventures - intentionally. I guess some people don't even need lists; but its nice to have one and to document the journey along the way that the Lord is taking you on as you see Him work in and through you accomplishing your bucket list!

Here are a few of the items that I have finished on my list;
See Christiana Graduate High School
See Trevor get into a college
Get Gigi to 40lbs.
Learn how to text message
Get Scuba Certified

Here are a few on my list that I still have to finish:
See a cure for AIDS in my lifetime
Learn to forgive my enemies
See Greece with Mark for our 30th Anniversary
Do a night dive


Why not start a bucket list for yourself, its a great way to see and acknowledge a life lived with intention, and all of the blessings that the Lord is bestowing upon you as you move from one adventure to the next.

Be blessed.
Julie