~This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. ~

The son of Zebedee wrote these words sometime between the destruction of the temple and his death.

Love like that would be a good thing to put in your bucket list if you have one. I suppose I have one, though I’ve never written anything down. It’s more like a never ending list of things I’d like to accomplish before I leave planet Earth. Even when I was young I knew there were things I wanted to do with my life. The kid I was didn’t know enough back then to actually set goals. Mine were more like a Sears and Roebuck catalogue wish list before Christmas arrived. I was always a fly by the seat of my pants kid.

As a result I endured a lot of unexpected surprises until I started my grownup bucket list.

One of the first things on my list was to find somebody to love. It’s kinda difficult to cross something like that off a list if you’re an introvert. But fate smiled on me and a sixteen year old girl asked me out. We fell in love and we’ve lived happily ever after for forty-five years.

When one life becomes two you need a bigger bucket. Her list became mine and my list became hers. Kids, grandchildren, traveling... all have a way of crawling into a bucket.

Then sometimes life throws you a curve ball - as in these strange times of social distancing - Staying away from one another. How odd.

We must love someone enough to stay away from them for their own good. Perhaps our’s, too.

Who would have ever thought that we would come to a point in time where we’d make a decision to care so much about our friends and family that we would choose to stay away from them.

However , this may be a good time to reflect on how we’ve been doing this thing called life and make a few adjustments going forward.

When I was a kid I spent a lot of days in time-out. Too much. Time to reflect on my behavior and how I could alter my behavior going forward. I was a slow learner.

I think that may be happening to us now. We are in time-out.

He loved us enough to give up his life for us. It was on his list. Would we do that? Will we love each other enough to temporarily distance ourselves from those that we care about so that they may stay well or live? Only time can answer that.

I’ve learned to be patient at my age. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s needed to be on my list for a long time.

What’s on your bucket list these days?Faith, a few fear nots, confidence, patience, love? What are you reflecting on? This may be a moment of Devine Providence for us. I suggest we use it wisely.

Just be assured that He’s got this. Faith. It’s one of the things you need in your bucket.

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Rick Algood
April 26, 2020