Wouldn’t you just love to be able to plan your future? Much of it we have no control over, even though our choices in life can produce results we don’t like to admit we had any responsibility for. If you are a Believer in Christ you can be sure of your life after this life but you aren’t guaranteed the living part will be smooth or without disappointments and hardships. Knowing the end is in His Hands brings much comfort and peace. So, how much input do I actually have in the day to day living of my life? I do know my attitude and the way I react to circumstances that come my way is 100% up to me.

I remember as a teenager living in Nigeria I used to complain to my parents about being bored all the time, as if it was their responsibility to make my life exciting!! I was 15 and in one of those complaining teenager moods, having just returned to Nigeria from America after being on leave for a year. I felt like life was standing still. It was a Sunday morning while sitting in church feeling sorry for myself, when we all noticed the road in front of the church was filled with military transportation trucks. We must have counted 100 or more as they drove by one after the other. As the day progressed we found out that our whole area had become ‘occupied’ by the West and we were caught in the middle of a war between the East and West. It was the Biafran War in Nigeria in 1967. We were totally cut off from all communication from the outside world for 6 weeks. Our family and friends didn’t know if we were dead or alive. (This was years before the internet….ha!) True story!!! It became a running joke in our family that all this happened because Susan said she was BORED!! That’s when I began to understand a basic concept of life…… If I want my life exciting I have to choose to live that way. I can’t just dream or complain and expect someone to make it that way. I have to step out and be intentional…..even about having fun!

In this season of life when I am in between slow and fast (if you get my drift), I have to be honest and say I have felt once again that teenage tendency to complain and blame. So here is what I’ve decided to do this year. I am making a “Bucket” list for 2020. This list will consist of things I talk about doing all the time and never make time to actually DO. I’ll put it on the inside of the kitchen cupboard door that I open the most….my coffee mug door…..so I see it every day. Here’s an example of a few items on my 2020 Bucket list.

• 1. Learn to read a crochet pattern and make something.
• 2. Go to the Morikami Museum and Japanese Garden.
• 3. Canoe the Loxahathee River.
• 4. Take the Jupiter Lighthouse Tour.
• 5. Visit a country I haven’t been to yet.
• 6. Take a History Sightseeing Boat Tour on the Manatee Queen.
• 7. WRITE MORE. (this is a big one for me!)

This list doesn’t consist of things I ‘have to do’. They are things ‘get to do’. Last year my word for the year was ENJOY, and I chose to enjoy each day. This year I have two words….. DO IT! 😁 No more excuses. No more just wishing and talking about things I want to do. I am going to put each one on my 2020 Bucket list and DO IT!

“IT TAKES AS MUCH ENERGY TO WISH AS IT DOES TO PLAN” Eleanor Roosevelt