March 3, 2014 - "My Bucket List"

Good afternoon to all and happy beginning of a new month. Life group was so yummy last night! Our next one is the 1st Sunday of April and we will be doing foods to help us prepare for Easter and be awesomely healthy. Hope you can join us and bring a friend. :) Sorry this was late - busy morning! Today let's talk about something we all have, a Bucket List. Perhaps you don't call it by that term, but all of us have things we would like to see accomplished or places we dream of visiting before we "kick the bucket." Yes? I know I do. I have always dreamed of spending several days in a cottage in the mountains with 2 feet of snow outside, a roaring fireplace, a hot cup of coffee, a great book and a blanket. Can somebody say, "amen?" I have always wanted to take a cruise ship to Alaska and then Greece. I have always wanted to see the Great Barrier Reef as well as tour the complex where the Sound of Music was filmed in Austria. I guess that's a lot more than learning to roller skate or eating 12 hotdogs at one time. I would pick things that were very expensive. Do you have an expensive list as well? :) As much as we have a list of "must dos" before we leave this earth, the greatest DAILY "DO" on my list flows from Psalm 19:14: "May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer." (NIV) I love the way this translation reads "these words," not just random words or past words - but THESE WORDS right now - coming from MY MOUTH. How many of you know that sometimes we can excuse our thoughts as long as we don't speak them? But David links words from our mouth and thoughts that we meditate on...no escaping right? Psalm 139 reminds us that God knows every thought before it proceeds from our mouth; so again, there's no hiding. But realization that NO WORD OR DEED is hidden from God helps to keep my life in check. The difficult thing about words and thoughts is often they are connected with actions. Sometimes our words are so destructive that they hurt others and our thoughts more destructive and horribly ugly to our own soul and peace. Not good! Thank God for the help of the Holy Spirit. Right? I don't know about you, but I am grateful to hear Kind David, a man after God's own heart, pray such a prayer. This is the cry of my heart. So as I consider the journey before me and my "bucket list," the top of the list remains my daily attitude toward God, others, and myself. Talk tomorrow, PK