Bucket List

A few years ago a movie starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman added a new word to our English vocabulary.  The word, and the name of the movie, is "Bucket List."  A Bucket List is all of those things you want to do and all of those places want to go before you die (kick the bucket).

Before Mark and I headed off to visit the Galapagos Islands, my mother kept saying to me that "the Galapagos are on my bucket list."  After having explored these Islands, a place unlike any other in the world, I have to agree with her choice.  Here are a few reasons why:

The raw beauty of the Galapagos is stunning.  Hard edged sea cliffs with waves crashing into them with the violence of a Albert Pujols home run swing stop you in your tracks.  Black lava fields with uneven steps and contrasting patterns of the earth being shaped are a beauty that no contemporary art could ever capture.  The dark night skies with stars twinkling make you believe you are sitting in a planetarium when what you are seeing is actually real.  Each day consisted of trying to catch your breath under such a display of beauty.

The creatures of the Galapagos live without fear.  Sea lions sniffed us, sharks swam right by us, birds landed on camera lens, penguins swam around snorkelers to get their food, and sea turtles and land turtles just went about their business as if nothing was out of the ordinary.  It was like being inside the cages of a zoo only without the cages.

The people in the Galapagos are fabulous.  Locals welcomed us with a hospitality you would receive from family, our guide and crew on the boat were exceptional, and the new friends we made from around the world deepened our world view with an intimacy reserved for close friends.  Breakfast conversations or late night reflections that included voices from Denmark, Norway, Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom were some of the most joyful I've had in a long time.  The Galapagos, a tiny set of islands 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, is a place that brings the world together in harmony with one another.

When I read through the book of Genesis, I've always wondered what the Garden of Eden was like before the descent into brokenness and the fragmentation of sin.  Adam and Eve living in harmony with one another and with the creatures that surrounded them.  The beauty of a new creation filling their eyes every morning and throughout each day.  A place where fear of each other or fear of God was never an issue.  Of course, we all recognize that it all changed, but the Galapagos gives me a glimpse of what was.  It also gives me a glimpse of what could be.

What would my world look like if I lived without fear?  Where curiosity and wonder and imagination were allowed to blossom instead of being pruned by my fear of what others might think?  What would it look like to be in such harmony with God and with others that the Great Commandment was more a way of natural living than something I had to work really hard at?  What level of joy would I experience to be in constant appreciation of God's beauty in creation and not so worried about my next meeting or what's for dinner tonight or how the bills are going to get paid?  Being in the Galapagos gave me just a hint of what that might be like.

The stunning beauty of creation . . . a life without fear . . . a rich deep harmony of relationships with God and with people . . . maybe that could be our Bucket List.  At least I know my mom would sign up.