May 8 - Baccalaureate Mass

BELLA698

 “Making Your Bucket List Now”

Rev. Ronald Knott

May 8, 2015

Hold to deliberation and planning. Then you may go

your way securely and your foot will never stumble.

 PROVERBS 3

Over the Christmas holidays last year, I watched the 2007 movie, “The Bucket List,” starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. It’s about two terminally ill old men on a road trip with a list of things to do before they “kick the bucket.” 

In one of my very favorite scenes, they are both sitting on one of the pyramids in Egypt. Morgan Freeman’s character says to Jack Nicholson’s character, “You know the ancient Egyptians had a beautiful belief about death. When their souls got to the entrance to heaven…the gods asked them two questions. Their answer determined whether they were admitted or not. “Have you found joy in your life?” “Has your life brought joy to others?”

Today, I want to talk to you about making your bucket list now, not wait till you are at the end of your life. If you are going to answer the two questions from the movie, in any degree of certainty, you must develop a plan and work that plan starting now – even if you have to make revisions along the way. To paraphrase an exchange between Alice and the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there."

Hold to deliberation and planning. Then you may go

your way securely and your foot will never stumble.

I believe in this practice so much that I actually wrote a book on it for the graduating class that I teach at St. Meinrad Seminary every year. It is called PERSONAL GROWTH PLAN. In that transition class, I challenge them to proceed into priesthood with the end in mind. I ask them to tell me where they would like to end up, spiritually, financially and psychologically when they get to my age. I remind them that if they want to end up there they need to start planning even before they graduate.

As part of the financial section of their personal growth plan, I give them each $100 to open their Individual Retirement Accounts and tell them not to trust the Church or anyone else to take care of them when they are old – even if other people are “supposed to” take care of them in the future To show them how right I am, I refer to a February survey of priests’ retirement plans that reveal that a majority of US priests’ retirement plans are underfunded. I try to get them to see that they could be left stranded after a lifetime of ministry, unless they act now – forty or fifty years out!   

It has been said that most people, who reach 65 or beyond, look back on their lives with regret. They wish they had set their priorities differently. It is a fact that choices made today, whether bad or good, follow us forever, one way or another. As far as that goes, not to choose is a choice! If we want a better tomorrow, then we have to start making better decisions today.

Graduates! Not every fairy tale story that begins with 'Once upon a time,' has a 'Happily ever after….’ ending. J. K Rowling said this: “There is an expiration date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.” Our lives are the sum result of all the choices we make, both consciously and unconsciously. If we can control our processes of choosing, we can take control of more aspects of our lives. There is a certain freedom and exhilaration that comes with being in charge of ourselves – but there is also awesome responsibility!

“Have you found joy in your life?” “Has your life brought joy to others?”  If you are going to be able to answer those questions with conviction – forty, fifty or sixty years in the future - now is the time to start. Our first reading, from the Book of Proverbs, offers us a guide. It tells us to “hold to deliberation and planning,” “they will be life to your soul,” “you may go your way securely, your foot will never stumble,” “when you lie down, you will not be afraid” and “when you rest your sleep will be sweet.” 

More is required for success that merely “meaning well.” We have to have a plan and we have what it takes to bring it to reality. In speaking about discipleship, the passage from the gospel that we read tells us that if we set out to build a tower, we need to first sit down and calculate the cost to see if we have what it takes to finish it. Otherwise, after laying the foundation, we might wake up and realize that we do not have the needed resources to finish. Success is more than a good idea, a sincere wish or even a valid college degree.

I have often pondered what is it about certain people that makes them successful in achieving what they set out to do and reach their greatest potential? Is it luck? Do they have better connections with people of power and influence? Does God have favorites? I don’t think so! I believe they have two things: singleness of purpose in where they want to go and the disciplined personal habits that will take them there. Success requires that we have perfect clarity about what we want, constant vigilance to stay on task, regular reevaluation along the way and personal discipline to bring it to completion. One Native American Elder made this wise observation. "Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time." When someone asked him which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the most."

Graduates! The truth of the matter is this! It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us! We were created in the image and likeness of God. We are temples of the Holy Spirit. We are light and salt to enlighten and give savor to the world. We are set on a hill to be seen. We have been given talents to invest. We are called to find joy in our lives and bring joy into the lives of others.  Nothing else is as important as these two things! Nothing! If we get these wrong, we have indeed failed at life no matter how far we go!  

Hold to deliberation and planning. Then you may go

your way securely and your foot will never stumble.

If you forgo deliberation and planning and if you fail to develop the personal disciple that goes with it, you could find yourself at my age being one of those million “could have beens, might have beens and should have beens.”  The real losers will be those people who get to the end, still blaming their parents, still blaming the times they lived in, still blaming the system that was so unfair to them or whatever other excuses they can come up with! The truth of the matter is, you have planning to do and choices to make! You can affect the outcome of your life by creating your bucket lists now and practicing the discipline it takes to work through that list - without lame excuses, without whining blame and without lazy shortcuts. As the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus said, “God loves to help him who strives to help himself.” You can accept or reject that help.

Graduates! In short, you have been given a good education. You can use it or lose it. Ultimately, your choice comes down to this: you can run with the big dogs or you can just sit on the porch and bark!