Bucket lists and vineyards

Alright, so I mentioned a while back that I had created a summer bucket list. I made this list back in April, and I realize it's a lot of things and I probably won't get them all done. That's okay. It'll keep my busy and having fun. That's all I want. Some of the things I've never done, some of them I have. So here it is:

Hannah's Summer Bucket List

• Lagoon
• Ross Park Pool
• Museum of Idaho (They have a guitar exhibit for the summer featuring a 43.5 foot long x 16 foot wide guitar!)
• The Living Planet Aquarium in SLC
• River rafting
• Do open mic night at a coffee shop
• Go camping/fishing/boating/shooting (All of these things are amazing and good. Whether they happen in the same trip or not is not important, though possible)
• Go to a zoo
• Lava Hot Springs
• Monkey Rock  
• Drive in movie (check)
• Go caving (check)
• Do 21 "Random Acts of Kindness" for my birthday

If you're interested, here is my formal bucket list which I created when I was about 17. Some of them are pretty typical, but I will tell you right now that skydiving is not on list list. That would be on the informal bucket list for my life. The informal bucket list includes things such as eating a burger at Big Judd's, doing the splits, and hiking R mountain; things that I will get half way through and think, "This is really stupid and will not make me feel accomplished in any way," even if I have always secretly wanted to do them. Anyway, here's the official one:

Official Life Bucket List

• Light a big firework (Like, a BIG one)
• Visit all 50 states
• Be kissed in the pouring rain
• Tour Europe
• Be married to my best friend in the temple
• Go skinny dipping
• Stand on the Golden Gate Bridge (or just drive across...either way)
• Go on a train ride
• See the Northern Lights
• Go to a concert
• Ride in a hot air balloon (and if my future husband proposes inside one, that would be great too)
• Go rock climbing
• Go hang gliding
• Learn to play the accordion
• Go to an NBA game
• Play "Clair de Lune" perfectly
• See Niagara Falls
• Read the Harry Potter series 
• Shoot a crossbow
• Ride in a submarine
• Have some sort of crazy pet (like a fox)
• Give a flower to someone I don't know
• Visit Australia
• Have lots of kids
• Make a full wig (donate my hair at least 5 times)
• Make a kite that works
• Pet a lion
• Go white water rafting
• Visit a real castle
• Pay for a car behind me at a toll booth
• Read the entire Standard Works
• Dance in the moonlight
• Have a rose garden
• Be in a flash mob
• Swim with dolphins (check)
• Have dance lessons (check)
• Sleep in a boat (check)
• Swim in the ocean (check)
• Go to Walt Disney World (check)
• Get a professional massage (check)
• Drive/ride a motorcycle (check)
• Ride in a helicopter (check)

So, basically, I've got a lot to do! However, this is something I've been thinking a lot about lately. Check lists. If you've never read the talk by Dallin H. Oaks called "The Challenge to Become", read it. At the beginning of the summer, I felt the need to make a new and improved me. This meant getting down to the very deepest parts of my foundation and repairing the parts that were starting to break down. I made a daily check list (because I really love checking things off) including things like read scriptures, morning and evening prayers, keep my room clean, write in my journal, and work out every day. I've done pretty well on most of the things, but it's not like I've been able to check every single one off every single day, and I was starting to get down on myself for that. Then I read this talk, and my eyes were opened. While what we do defines what we ultimately become, life is not meant to be a check list. The gospel is not a check list where we complete something and move on; rather, it is a constant battle for becoming who the Lord would have us be. Therefore, when we sit before the Lord to be judged, it is not what we have done, but who we have become, that will determine our fate. 

It goes back to the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard given in Matthew 20:1-16. Jesus describes a "householder" who hires men to work for him in his vineyard. The laborers who he found in the morning agreed to work for him and receive a penny per day for payment. Clearly they were desperate; who works for a penny per day?! Just kidding. But really. In any case, these men began their work, and the owner of the vineyard continued throughout the day to hire on new laborers, who also agreed to receive a penny per day for their work. He went out in the third, the sixth, the ninth, and the eleventh hour, each time hiring on new employees. At the twelfth hour, he asked his steward to pay the workers, beginning with those who didn't start until the eleventh hour. When those who began work in the morning learned that those who had only worked for an hour received the same payment as they did, they were furious. I mean, wouldn't you be? They complained, saying, "These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day." The owner of the vineyard replied, "Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?" 

So, in the end, even those who maybe haven't accomplished as much or worked as hard as the others can receive the same payment so long as they become a "laborer" of the Lord. It is all dependent on what we become. I'm trying really hard to become something great here, and while daily scripture study, prayer, and journal writing are good things and undoubtedly crucial to becoming the woman the Lord would have me be, there is no need for a check list. What I become is so much deeper than a list. It is beauty, love, kindness, respect, charity, humility, patience, hope, trust, and faith. It is emulating the life of my Savior and becoming like him. It is the ultimate bucket list item :)

Yours Truly