Do you have a personal bucket list?

by Yossi
(Israel and Florida)

That’s an interesting question. Yes, as a matter of fact I do have a personal bucket list. Five things top my list.

1. moving to San Francisco
2. living in a motor home
3. always improving myself physically
4. constantly learning and growing and
5. finishing my first novel

I’ve discovered some unpleasant things about the average human being. There appears to be a gene which causes folks to settle for a life they hate, a life they never intended to live.

They are hide-bound by false teaching and afraid to rock the boat or they are comfortably ensconced in leadership positions which cause them to perpetuate the status quo instead of making positive changes.

Human beings die by degrees, giving in, settling for, putting up with, resigning themselves to lives of quiet desperation. They allow their dreams to die because society wears them down, chews them up and spits them out.

It’s so easy to settle for a hum drum existence, avoiding challenges while fooling ourselves into believing we probably couldn’t make a difference anyway so why try. We make friends with our bare subsistence level of life skills and decide, this far I’m come and no further.

Are you willing to settle?

Are you willing to settle for just being adequate? Have you decided, perhaps subconsciously, that you are comfortable precisely where you are so further learning, further challenge, further accomplishment no longer matters?

Dreary mediocrity seems to be the default human position for so many of us yet that need not be true for all of us. I believe most of us are hard-wired to learn, grow, climb, explore and soar, until life beats that desire out of us.

The first step to solving a problem is to recognize the problem. The second step is actively seeking solutions. The third step is refusing to give up when the first solution we try fails.

I admit the process is often painful. And sometimes our friends are not supportive if our problem solving causes them to miss a favorite TV show or messes up their schedule. Mired in a comfortable routine, it isn’t easy to break free and chase our dreams.

Update your bucket list

That’s where bucket lists come in. Think back to high school and college. Remember your dreams and schemes, your goals and plans. Every day was a new opportunity, every obstacle could be overcome because dreams were as real as reality. What happened to change the promise of tomorrow?

For many of us, life has become an enervating marathon and we’ve reached the wall, where our body tells us we cannot go on and our only hope is to keep going anyway because we’re chasing a dream.

Have you stopped competing? Have you stopped dreaming? Are you stuck in a job you hate in a life you’d like to ditch so you can chase your dreams?

I have great news for you. It’s not too late. Start making dream lists again. Start getting rid of all the stuff that possesses you and keeps you from chasing your dream. It may be possessions or it may be commitments that suck up your time but no longer fulfill you. In service to your dreams, let it all go.

As you start chasing your dreams again, strange things will begin to happen. You will start to notice benefits you never imagined as you take baby steps toward accomplishing your dreams. You will wake up earlier than usual and welcome the day because your dreams are becoming reality.

Factor in God

God is a huge factor on the dream scale. Our capacity to dream comes from God. In ancient times, before we had the written Bible in easily accessible form, God spoke to His servants in dreams. I wonder sometimes if the voice of God in our heart grows distant and silent because the daily grind of life slowly kills our ability to dream? It’s time to get busy.

“Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.” Hebrews 12:1-3.

Start chasing your dream

Today is your day to start chasing the dream. The battle begins in your mind, recognizing the somewhere deep inside, the dream is still there. Today, refuse to settle for a life that no longer thrills you. I’m not talking about abandoning someone because you’ve let the relationship go stale. Stale relationships can be rekindled.

I’m talking about re-imagining yourself and helping your partner start dreaming again. I’m talking about laying aside the weights which slow us down and kill our dreams. I’m talking about focusing like a laser on what is really important.

Think about it. If you keep doing what you’ve been doing, will you be where you want to be next year at this time? If you don’t start chasing your dreams now, when? Only you can chase your dreams. No one can chase your dreams for you because dream chasing is highly personal.

My dream is to move to San Francisco and minister the gospel of Jesus Christ in the GLBT community. I don’t know exactly how to make the move because San Francisco is such an expensive place but I'm exploring possibilities and I'm open to suggestions.

My Florida home is paid for and the cost of living here is low. Just renting a mediocre apartment in San Francisco costs more than my current monthly income. Yet I know there is a way to chase my San Francisco dream and make it reality.

It would help sell my home if I had a talented gay designer to do the $2000 Design To Sell makeover. Unfortunately the gay designer gene completely skipped me. Yet I believe God is able to send along a buyer for my home anyway so I can relocate to San Francisco. I’ll persevere because I have a dream and I'll chase the dream until it becomes reality. Here is something to think about.

God gave us each two ends to use;
With one to sit, with one to muse.
Success depends on which you use;
Heads you win, tails you lose.

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