It’s that time of year again. We say goodbye to one calendar year and welcome a new one. It’s been 360ish days since we did this last. Went fast, didn’t it? Once again we find ourselves in that small window of time giving a nod to the wisdom of Socrates: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Do you remember the movie The Bucket List? It came out a couple of years ago (I think). As movies go, it is loaded with life themes. You could spend a year at Starbucks talking with your coffee buddies about the one-liners, conversations and experiences that happen in this movie. Simply put, it’s one of those movies that makes you think about your life. Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, both terminal with cancer, come up with the “bucket list” – a list of things they want to do before they die. And, what a list they come up with. It’s the kind of stuff you do if one of you is a gazzillionaire! But, off they go into the wild blue yonder of adventure. They take their spectacular list and check"em off one at a time. Along the way they share perspectives of life, hopes, dreams, and regrets, and they do it acutely aware that time is in short order. The movie is loaded with laughs. But I think it is one Socrates would have watched and enjoyed talking about.
We don’t like to think about our mortality. It’s…well…morbid. We prefer the “now." So…for the time being, let’s give the inevitability of our own mortality a rest. In fact let’s not presume 2012 will happen in its entirety. Sound a little weird? Perhaps unsettling? Behind all the parties, Times Square celebrations, and cute conversations about what we plan to do differently in 2012 is the defining reality of the biblical view of time. Scripture says “time” is in the Father’s hands. It was Jesus who said, “Be on the alert. Watch!” The apostle Paul talks about fighting off sleep and staying awake “in the Spirit." We often talk about making a difference with our lives or mapping out all the things we want to accomplish in our “lifetime,” all the while assuming that we will have the presumed 70-80 years (and then some) to get it all done. But, that is not the consciousness that should frame our perspective of life…of bucket lists. We have the “now." The window of December 31 – January 1 isn’t big enough to contain it. Why? Simply because the now affects every day we are given to live on the planet. And, that takes Socrates’ familiar adage off the list marked “pithy things to think about on New’s Years Day” and puts it on the “everyday” list.
What does 2012 hold? God knows. And, He is the only One who knows. More importantly, how do we need to surrender ourselves to His calling and purposes for the days that are ahead…however many they may be? If we think about our lives from a truly Christian perspective a good time to start “the examined life is worth living” would be….well…when? So what’s on our list “today?" Father, bless us with an acute awareness of your calling of us today. May we live “in the moment” every day as your servants. Bless us with everything we need to be instruments in your hands every day that you give us in 2012. Through Him who is the same yesterday, today and forever….amen.
Randy Daugherty
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