When I was in Junior High, I watched the movie Glory. The 1989 war epic tells the story of the Massachusetts 54th Infantry regiment, one of the first black regiments to fight for the Union army in the Civil War. The story follows Col. Robert Gould Shaw, played by Matthew Broderick, as he raises and leads the regiment. It is one of my favorite films. I’ve lost count of how many times I have watched it. I’ve also worn out several cassette copies of the soundtrack. The closing credits of the movie run over photos of a bas relief sculpture depicting Shaw and his troops. In the days before Google or the Internet Movie Database, it wasn’t easy to look up the origin of the art they used, but I remember watching the credits as a kid and wondering about it.
Several years later, my family was living in the suburbs of Washington DC. I would often ride the train to the city and visit the sites and monuments. On my first visit to the National Gallery of Art, I rounded a corner and in the middle of the gallery, directly in front of me was the sculpture from Glory. It took my breath away. I hovered around the exhibit for ages, learning every detail I could. Seeing The Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial (1900) is one of my favorite “tourist” experiences in a lifetime of traveling the country and exploring museums, battlefields, and attractions. There are a few sites in the world I would love to see, but I doubt anything will strike me in quite the same manner as that moment.
This week, I walked up on a conversation where a couple of folks were discussing bucket list experiences. My first thought on hearing the conversation was the sculpture on that day in the Smithsonian. I love exploring and have spent a great deal of my life doing just that. I also realize that there will never be enough days to experience it all.
The idea of creating a list of “must see” or “must do” things before I kick the bucket (thus ‘bucket list’) is appealing to say the least. I’ll confess that I have a rough list of things I would like to do. However, years ago, when the idea of a bucket list became popular, I spent some time reflecting on the concept and the underlying assumptions associated with it.
The idea of a list of things you want to do before you die assumes that you reach the end of your life and that’s it. You have the days of your life to enjoy and you only live once, so fit in as much as you can or you’ll have wasted your days and missed out. When I realized that this was the underlying thinking, I realized that I don’t agree. My belief in Jesus and the tenets of Christianity dictate that I couldn’t endorse the practice. This life is temporary, but the life God has promised us in Jesus is eternal. There are things we are meant to think, say, and do in our lifetimes. Those things must take precedence. The greatest art, natural wonders, and adventures of this world are like a shadow compared to the world to come. Missing things in this life is a little like missing a commercial advertising the best meal ever compared to missing the meal itself. If I miss something in this life, it’s ok. Better things are coming.
That having been said, I do not want to come across as saying that travel, exploration, and experiences don’t matter. I don’t live that way and Christianity doesn’t teach that. We live in an amazing world that God created in the ultimate expression of art, engineering, and more. Exploring and enjoying that creation is a piece of worshipping God. Looking at the wonders of the world and thanking the God who made it possible is a very different mindset. We don’t live once and this life isn’t all there is, but we can see God’s handiwork and glorify Him while doing so. The amazing thing about this alternative viewpoint is that if it is true, it means that even the mundane moments of our lives have their own beauty and wonder. I simply must train myself to see it all through the lens of recognizing that it’s all a gift from and work of God. Some experiences, like seeing the Grand Canyon, are more overt and majestic, but it’s all a gift. In contrast, the bucket list way of thinking implies that the mundane is empty of value compared to bucket list experiences.
Based on this difference, I argue that the only Bucket List item worth having is learning to see God’s greatness and majesty in the world around us daily. Then, having witnessed it, taking a moment to thank God and glorify Him for it. Our world is a shadow of the good things to come. Living in harmony with that reality is key to getting the most out of life.
