Today is another Code Orange day for Ozone in the atmosphere and the temperature is headed once again for the century mark. That’s my excuse, anyhow, for thinking sluggishly today. If you don’t buy that one, I have several others I could offer. Through the years, I have learned that, when I’m having a dull day, I can jumpstart my brain sometimes by making lists. The list can be about almost any topic. The mental exercise of making a list helps me get organized and focused. It helps me clarify ideas and even have a new thought or two. So today I’m in my list-making mode. This list is comprised of some of the things I want most in life. I hope it will stimulate some of you, dear readers, to make your own lists. I think it is a good way to cultivate practical spirituality.

     Here are my “Things I want most in life.”

1. I want to be nothing that I am not.
2. I want to have nothing that I cannot live without.
3. I want to love people but possess no one and be possessed by no one.
4. I want to help people know God well enough to love God.
5. I want to understand God’s expectations of me.
6. I want to have enough nerve to live up to God’s expectations of me.
7. I want to help people live out of their larger rather than their lesser selves.
8. I want to exhort, encourage, cajole, aggravate and tease society into deeper compassion, truer justice, greater liberty and genuine peace.
9. I want to have a sense of humor that prevents me taking myself too seriously.
10. I want an attitude of gratitude that helps short-circuit my natural inclination to self-absorption.

     There’s my list for today. Ten items on a list are plenty. If Moses had larger stone tablets on Mt. Sinai he might have brought down eleven commandments. The eleventh commandment might have been: “Thou shalt not have more than ten commandments. Ten are enough. Y’all (Moses was a southern-fried preacher) are going to have your hands full obeying these ten.”

     However, since I’m not Moses, and I’m not sitting on top of a mountain chiseling in stone, I think I’ll add another item to the list of things I want most in life. Number 11. I want always to be risking something for God’s sake. The key words here are “for God’s sake.” One of the problems in many churches is the reluctance to risk much for God’s sake. That’s why, on the railroad of life, we religious folk are so often found crammed into the caboose—bringing up the rear. I want to be up near the Engineer so I can see what’s ahead and where I’m going. That’s just the way I am. It takes a bit of risk to get the most out of life!

     Speaking of risk and reward, did you hear about the freshman at the university who was about to go out on her first blind date? Her roommate, who was making the arrangements, asked whether she preferred Southern guys or Northern guys. The freshman was from a small Midwestern town and innocently unaware of distinctions between the two. She asked, “What’s the difference?”

     Her worldly-wise roommate replied, “Southern guys are more romantic. They will take you walking in the moonlight, whisper sweet nothings in your ear and kiss you on the veranda. Northern guys are more active. They like to take you to exciting places and do exciting things.”

     The young woman pondered the differences and then asked wistfully, “Could you please find me a Southern guy from as far North as possible?”

     That’s the other thing about these blazing, hot days when the air quality has gone bad. The corniest old jokes emerge from the dust of the past—seeking fresh air, I suppose. I’m blaming all of this on the Ozone.

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