My Bucket List

 

Jeremiah 45:5 Do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not … I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go.

I have a short bucket list. Mostly it has consisted of places I would like to visit and a couple of things I thought I'd like to do before the end of my life.

My bucket list included trips to Alaska, Hawaii coffee plantations, and Maine. It also included writing a book, which I was able to do a couple of years ago.

After a few failed attempts at the travel plans, I regretfully gave up on that, and I have continued to be sad about that. In fact, it has caused me dismay every time I think about it, and every time a friend makes such a trip I feel that regret for myself.

Which made what I read in Jeremiah this morning so meaningful to me.

Baruch had some of the same feelings I have had in my failed attempts at my bucket list:. sadness, discouragement, regret, even dismay at times.

Jeremiah chapter 45 is a message from God to Baruch, who was Jeremiah’s loyal and supportive secretary. They had been through a lot of turmoil, largely due to the unpopular messages Jeremiah was delivering to the people in those days. Through it all Baruch had stuck with Jeremiah, but I suspect that he was feeling very discouraged. 

After all, the messages from God that Baruch had recorded for Jeremiah represented a lot of energy and effort on Baruch’s part as the secretary. He had to write those long messages on a scroll that he probably had to make himself, with ink that he had to make, with a quill that he had to make.

He had to refill his quill every few letters. This was no ball point pen that he was using.

He was taking dictation.

It was a laborious job, but being a long-time, dedicated scribe, I suspect he was proud of his work, and for good reason.

Those labor-intensive messages had not only been ignored by the recipients, some had even been deliberately destroyed by the king (re: Jeremiah 36), and had to be re-written. 

Jeremiah had been imprisoned because of the messages that had been so well-recorded by Baruch.

Later, Baruch had to accompany Jeremiah as they were forced to move to Egypt despite God’s warning against doing so. 

To top it all off, Baruch was accused of inciting Jeremiah's messages against the leaders of the nation, setting Jeremiah against them. As though the employee (Baruch), the dictation-taker, could have such a strong influence over his employer (Jeremiah), the dictation-giver.

It is understandable that Baruch might be discouraged. I certainly would have been. All he was doing was trying to be the best scribe/secretary he could be.

God’s message under the circumstances is a powerful one:

Do not worry about whether you are succeeding in your efforts. Just keep on keeping on.               "Do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not."

I am going to protect you and be with you. Stay faithful.                                                                         "I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go."

This puts a whole new perspective on my bucket list.