In the city where I work many businesses decorate the outer walls of their buildings with interesting murals.<\/strong> One has taken a different route, covering their parking lot-adjacent wall with a single writer\u2019s prompt. The wall leaves lots of room for the public to fill in the blanks with chalk. The prompt is this:<\/p>\n What would you like to do before you die?<\/strong> People who took the time to answer this mural\u2019s prompt answered:<\/p>\n Not all of the answers were positive and uplifting. Some also said:<\/strong><\/p>\n So, I wonder, Dear Reader, what do you want to do before you die? What\u2019s important enough that you want to put it on your bucket list?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Maybe you saw the 2007 film, The Bucket List<\/a><\/span>, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.<\/strong> Screenwriter Justin Zackham also wrote, \u201cThe Bucket List: Things to Do Before I Kick It<\/span>.<\/a>\u201d Based on the movie and the book, the phrase \u201cbucket list\u201d has become part of our culture\u2019s popular vocabulary. It\u2019s simply a list of the things you want to do before you die (kick the bucket). IMDb gives the movie\u2019s storyline:<\/p>\n Corporate billionaire Edward Cole and working class mechanic Carter Chambers have nothing in common except for their terminal illnesses. While sharing a hospital room together, they decide to leave it and do all the things they have ever wanted to do before they die according to their bucket list. In the process, both of them heal each other, become unlikely friends, and ultimately find joy in life.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In the film, Cole and Chambers discover the immense freedom in anticipating their own deaths. Each day becomes more precious. Each breath becomes a gift. <\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Sometimes, ticking something off your bucket list is a simple matter of adventure.<\/strong> Next week, my wife and I will journey to the Mexican Riviera, where we will soak in the sun and surf. We will also tackle a bucket list item of mine\u2014visiting Mayan ruins. I\u2019ve always envied Indiana Jones\u2019 explorations, which have inspired a real-life fascination with sacred sites and ancient monuments. For me, the trip to Tulum doesn\u2019t hold spiritual significance. It\u2019s just fun. A chance to pretend I\u2019m an archaeologist in a fedora. I\u2019ll bet you have some bucket list items like that.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Other times, bucket lists hold a greater meaning. <\/strong>Last July, my 80-year-old father who is battling cancer invited my brother and me and two of our grown kids to accompany him on a bucket list adventure. We spent a few days together, visiting churches in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA. These churches were established either by John Casper Stoever, Jr., or his son, a circuit-riding duo who planted scores of congregations in that area.<\/p>\n These two ministers were ancestors of ours.<\/strong> My brother and I (both ordained clergy) were privileged to have our pictures taken while standing in the pulpit our ancestor preached from, nearly three hundred years ago.<\/p>\n For my dad, this went beyond ticking something off his bucket list.<\/strong> Instead, this seemed more of a quest\u2014a way of reconnecting with his ancestors while sharing the experience with his descendants. It was no mere trip. There was a spiritual import to what we were doing.<\/p>\n When I read the bucket list items on the graffiti wall, I am struck by what\u2019s important to different people.<\/strong> Some place priority on physical pleasure. For some, it\u2019s travel to exotic places. Expressions of love top the list, as do desires for revenge. Others shared ambitions for accomplishments. Many wrote about spiritual goals. If I were to ask you, \u201cWhat do you want to do before you die?\u201d how would you answer? What\u2019s important to you?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Teacher of the biblical book of Ecclesiastes (9:7-10)<\/a><\/span> writes:<\/p>\n Go, eat your bread with enjoyment and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has long ago approved what you do.\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Let your garments always be white; do not let oil be lacking on your head.\u00a0Enjoy life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life that are given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.\u00a0Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Or, in the words of the old Latin maxim, \u201cDum vivimus, vivamus!<\/em> While we live, let us live!\u201d <\/strong>Let each day become more precious. Take each breath as a gift. Don\u2019t wait until you\u2019re about to kick the bucket to begin crossing items off your list. Live each moment as if it could be your last. Invest in your ancestors, your children, your pets, your neighbors, your world.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In The Bucket List, one of the lines that moved me was when Chambers, played by Morgan Freeman, says:<\/p>\n It is difficult to understand the sum of a person\u2019s life. Some people will tell you it\u2019s measured by the ones left behind. Some believe it can be measured in faith. Some say by love. Other folks say life has no meaning at all. I believe that you measure yourself by the people who measured themselves by you.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n What do you want to do before you die?<\/strong> I hope when you get to your final year or your last day, you don\u2019t regret all the things you never did. I hope you spent your life investing in others. That way, when you measure your time on Earth, you\u2019ll find there are a lot of folks who measure themselves by you.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n What\u2019s on your bucket list? In just a few days, I will achieve a lifelong goal and visit Mayan ruins. What do you want to do before you die? In the city where I work many businesses decorate the outer walls of their buildings with interesting murals. One has taken a different route, covering their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4628,"featured_media":6728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4505,4499,4511,4508,4514,4502],"class_list":["post-6722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spirituality","tag-adventure","tag-bucket-list","tag-indiana-jones","tag-quest","tag-tulum","tag-what-do-you-want-to-do-before-you-die"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"What](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1467\/2025\/02\/IMG_5542.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cBefore I Die\u2026 ________________________\u201d<\/h2>\n
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The Bucket List<\/h2>\n
A Bucket List Adventure<\/h2>\n
A Bucket List Quest<\/h2>\n
![\"What](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1467\/2025\/02\/IMG_9238-1.jpeg\")
<\/a>What\u2019s Important to You?<\/h2>\n
While We Live, Let Us Live!<\/h2>\n
The Sum of a Person\u2019s Life<\/h2>\n
For related reading, check out my other articles:<\/h3>\n
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