living in the fruits of the spirit.

Many of us have made a mental or physical "bucket list" for our lives. What do we want to do before we die? What do we want to accomplish? What do we want to see? And most of us truly believe that crossing things off our tailor-made bucket lists will make us happy. I have to say, crossing skinny dipping in the Mediterranean off my list was sweet as hell, but at the end of the day, will I find a continual lifetime of happiness based on pleasures alone? Uh, well, I kind of thought so until I read Teresa Tomeo's God's Bucket List.

Tomeo is not trying to tell us that creating a list of goals for ourselves is a bad idea, the opposite really, in this book she is more guiding us toward practices for achieving happiness. Because simple manmade pleasures are not enough, and many of us, especially younger adults are so busy making plans that we forget to include God in any of them.

God's Bucket List consists of eight "agenda of adventures [God] wants you to experience, ways of living before you die." These include: Live with Stillness, Live Your Passion, Live with Instruction, Live in the Mess, Live with Understanding, Live by Confession, Live the Good Life, Live like You're Loved. In Tomeo's opinion, each of these eight practices are surefire ways to achieve happiness in this life and beyond. I can't say I disagree. It's nice to stop and be reminded why we're here.