Bucket List

"Take out a sheet of paper and write down 25 things you want to do before you die."

My classroom full of high school seniors looked at me quizzically. Some began to write furiously, filling the page then turning it over for more space. Others moaned, got out their pens, and reluctantly began to scribble something down--just to complete the assignment for "Old Lady Raatjes".

Then there were students, mostly boys I'm afraid, who stared at me like I was from another planet. They had no idea what to write until I prodded them with questions or ideas. I felt sad they couldn't conjure up a list to complete this simple assignment.

• Had they never dreamed?
• Had no one ever challenged them to ponder their future?

It was a ditzy little assignment meant to jump start the students into a study of the John Keats' poem, When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Live. British poetry was not their first love, and so I did everything I could think of to make it relate to them. That's where this assignment came in.

John Keats was a young poet who knew he would probably die young. He did at age 26 from tuberculosis--the disease that had taken his mother and brother. He was engaged to the girl next door. In his poem he laments not fulfilling his love for her and not being able to write down all the poems swarming in his brain. (I get that last thought: I have so many unwritten manuscripts in my head I need to live to 120 to complete them all!)

The movie, Bucket List, with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, gave credence to my own list of 25 things which I created years ago, long before the movie came out.

Bottom line:

• What's on your Bucket List?
• Do you have one?
• Writing down dreams/goals makes it more likely you will accomplish them.

Assignment (you knew this was coming):

Before the day is over, create a list of 25 things you'd like to do in your future.

One of the items on my list was to write a novel. Happily, this past year I published Route to Survival. (For more info on the book, click here to go to my website.)

So you see, dreams/goals can be realized. Do it and have fun!



Connections

Facebook, with all its downsides and foibles, really does connect people. I've established communication with friends from my days of kindergarten back in Berea, Ohio. One friend is in Turkey, for goodness sake! It's amazing what technology is doing--both good and bad--for modern life.

Last week, someone's post blew me away. Laurie is the daughter of a good friend, and she and I are Facebook Friends. She posted an amazing photo taken from the front of a ferry boat leaving Charlevoix, Michigan, heading towards Beaver Island. If you've read my novel, Route to Survival, you know Beaver Island is a remote island in the middle of northern Lake Michigan.

I thought very few people knew about this lovely spot but here was Laurie, heading off for a visit with three family members who are year-round residents of the place. Can you imagine my excitement? Wow, is all I could say.

What a small world, what a coincidence, what a Godwink!

I began thinking about how Laurie and I are connected and what a convoluted Friend Tree (not Family Tree) illustrates our connection:

• My husband and I know her dad, Jack, through three friend groups: one from Chicago, one from Ohio and now Arizona (Munds Park, to be exact), and one from Minnesota.
• Years ago, my husband, Bob, golfed with Jack and a mutual friend who knew Bob when he was a little kid in Chicago.
• Friends from my childhood (Ohio then AZ) met Jack in northern AZ and became good friends.
• The Minnesota people knew him from attending the same church in AZ many years ago.
• Jack's children grew up as close friends to the Chicago family, who relocated to AZ, whose children babysat our children. They became lifelong friends of our family as well as Jack's.

Where does Laurie come in? I've met her in person a few times at family celebrations for her dad, who is in his nineties. I've remotely followed her family through the years in visits with her dad. Are you confused?

If I were to draw this out it wouldn't be a tree but rather a large vine with many shoots going off in different directions. And then at the top, would be Beaver Island.

I have another friend from Michigan who summers on the island and even pastored a church there for a few years. I bet he knows Laurie's relatives who live there. Small world, coincidence? No, it's a Godwink and I'm grateful. It makes me smile.

Thanks for the photo, Laurie. To see her post on my FB Timeline, click here: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008150919932

What is Real?

You see a photograph accompanying a recipe for Eggs Benedict. You think, I can do that! It shows an artful presentation of egg, Canadian bacon, English muffin, and, of course, a rich-looking Hollandaise dripping over it all. Makes you want to jump right up and buy the ingredients, mess up your kitchen, and try the 42-step recipe, right? Maybe not. But the photo is enticing.

A commercial photographer friend once told me, for every "perfect" photo you see in a magazine, there are about fifty that didn't make the cut. If it's a fried egg, it usually means someone has fried up a gazillion eggs in order to get the one that looks just right for the photo shoot.

When decorating magazines show a blanket casually strewn across the arm of a sofa, if means a photographer's assistant has tossed it many times to get the right feel of "messiness". My favorite is the wind-blown look of gorgeous models with their shiny, silky hair blowing seductively. You know it's achieved by fans blowing in their faces.

What is real? Even today's Reality Television is, if not staged, then surely edited to present the scene or feeling the director wants. There's even a new reality show that shows the unreality of reality shows! Can you follow that?

As I look around, I see a lot of pretending going on--in my own life. When guests come to my home, I make sure it looks as tidy as possible; when I'm feeling unfriendly, I mask it with a smile and a cheery greeting; I usually don't leave the house without makeup (concealer being my best friend). And those Christmas letters or Facebook posts? Do we share the uglies of life? No way.

I guess deep down I am searching for a time and place where I can let it all hang out and be real, true to myself. This is one thing that makes my daily time of devotions (meditation, quiet time, appointment with God--whatever you want to call it) so special.

I can be real when:

• I read God's love letter to me (the Bible)
• when I talk with God (prayer)
• when I listen (meditate)

I can breathe in his love, I can be my true self.

Sarah Young, devotional writer of Jesus Calling, says it beautifully in her June 8 entry:

[God speaking] "Bring your most secret thoughts into the Light of My Love....Anything you bring to me I transform and cleanse from darkness. I know everything about you, far more than you know of yourself....I have all Power in heaven and on earth. Seek my face with a teachable spirit....be transformed."

Isn't it great he loves and accepts each of us, just as we are? Let's develop teachable spirits so God can transform us with his power.

More on Russia

(Note to Readers: the past year I've been writing new posts twice a week. I enjoy writing them and I like feeling connected to readers who carve out time each week to visit my blog. However, I have decided to pare that down to only one new post a week.

I started writing a sequel to my recently published novel, Route to Survival, and I'm finding it hard to find time to devote to it. The plot ideas are swirling around in my head and I must get them down before they flutter away.

 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the blog posts. New ones will come every THURSDAY. As always, I appreciate your reading.)

Nice to see religious art at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg

Second Uplifting Event in Russia

The second, and more important redeeming event from our recent visit to Russia, was an impromptu speech given by our local tour guide at the end of our two-day visit. She acknowledged sadness about the animosity between Russia and the United States.

She assured us, however, the Russian people don't necessarily share those feelings. She said the people of St. Petersburg welcome Americans to come visit their beautiful city. And indeed, St. Petersburg is the cultural center of Russia with its extensive art collection, beautiful dance and music venues, and exquisite architecture. I realize tourism pays the guide's salary so she has an agenda, but her sentiments urging us to enjoy Russia seemed real.

She went on for three or four minutes emphasizing that the differences and animosity between our countries come from the political leaders at the top, not the citizens. It was very touching and something I took away from my visit to a very exotic, fascinating, sad, mysterious country.

Perhaps the lesson for all of us is that peace will come about only when common, ordinary people reach out to others, bridging the gap between cultures, beliefs, and lifestyles. Don't we all want the same thing--just to raise our families in freedom and comfort?

I enjoyed my short time in Russia though there were parts of it that were very somber, almost sad. I believe we all would benefit from interacting with ordinary Russian citizens. Many live a difficult existence but I feel their wants, needs, and desires are similar to ours.

Feel free to share this post with friends who might enjoy reading about the Russian people. Just click on one of the social icons below to share it on social media.

Madonna & Child

Sports Arena for Future World Cup

Opulence of the old palaces