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God's Bucket List: Heaven's Surefire Way to Happiness in This Life and Beyond
From the popular EWTN TV and radio personality comes a to-do list that's just divine.
Scripture tells us only God knows the desires of our hearts. It was, after all, God who placed them there because they are designed to lead us to His will for our lives. Why, then, is it so challenging at times to figure out if we are on the right track when it comes to what we believe we want or need? God's Bucket List will examine what God wants for each of mercy, fruitfulness, fellowship, and peace, just to name a few, and will explain what the Christian faith teaches about these gifts and how we can begin to achieve and cross out, one by one, the items on that heavenly list.
Scripture tells us only God knows the desires of our hearts. It was, after all, God who placed them there because they are designed to lead us to His will for our lives. Why, then, is it so challenging at times to figure out if we are on the right track when it comes to what we believe we want or need? God's Bucket List will examine what God wants for each of mercy, fruitfulness, fellowship, and peace, just to name a few, and will explain what the Christian faith teaches about these gifts and how we can begin to achieve and cross out, one by one, the items on that heavenly list.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
11 people are currently reading
834 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
November 12, 2013
Teresa Tomeo's, "God's Bucket List" is a delightful read! Short, sweet and to the point, I finished it in one sitting. I really enjoyed this book not just for the content, but because Ms. Tomeo does not beat the issue over the reader's head. She makes her point and moves on so a lot of information is packed in this slim book.
So what is God's Bucket List? The full title is actually "God's Bucket List: Heavens Surefire Way to Happiness in This Life and Beyond." First, I will tell you what it is not - it is not a "get happy" quick schemes that requires no changes in how you live your life. She strikes to the heart of the Christian life and challenges the reader to embrace and live the line from the Lord's prayer - "Thy will be done," rather than "My will be done," which so many of us, Christian or not, actually live by.
This is where our unhappiness usually comes from; we are not seeking God's will, but are own. Isaiah 55:8 reminds us that God's "thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways, my ways..." So often seeking our own will is the source of our unhappiness. We think we know what is best for ourselves - a job, a relationship, wealth. But when we get what we want (or think we want), we too often find we are still not satisfied, not happy. "God's Bucket List" reminds us that happiness comes from accepting God's plan for us. When we actively seek and accept God's plan we are often surprised at what it is that really makes us happy.
"God's Bucket List" consists of eight "agenda of adventures [God] wants you to experience, ways of living before you die." She got the idea from the movie "The Bucket List" starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, and realized as is the case for most of us, our bucket lists "focus only on sensation and pleasure: swimming the Great Barrier Reef...all of these goals seemed to focus primarily on sensory experience." Ms. Tomeo instead asked "what about the spiritual things in life? Where was God in all this?"
Throughout the book, she discussed the eight things that help us make God's bucket list our list and uses her own struggles and accomplishments to illustrate the need for each thing. When looking at her own life, before putting God first, when she asked the question, where was God, she realized "He was, at least for me, nowhere to be found. "God's Bucket List" is more than a list, it is Teresa Tomeo's own journey towards God and making His will her will.
Readers may find that they need to incorporate one or all eight things on God's bucket list. Each of the chapters cover a different area that needs to be addressed as well as why it is an important part of God's bucket list, and finally, what you can do to make it a part of your own bucket list. Starting with the need to be still, Ms. Tomeo points out that "a quarter of Americans say they are 'often' or 'always' too busy to think about their future...We just seem to be going from one task, one assignment, one errand to the next." Does this ring true for you? Then read how adding stillness can help!
If you read this book and you are like me and like to underline inspiring passages, then keep your pen handy. Be ready to be changed into the person God wants you to be and enjoy the happiness and peace God has planned for you!
So what is God's Bucket List? The full title is actually "God's Bucket List: Heavens Surefire Way to Happiness in This Life and Beyond." First, I will tell you what it is not - it is not a "get happy" quick schemes that requires no changes in how you live your life. She strikes to the heart of the Christian life and challenges the reader to embrace and live the line from the Lord's prayer - "Thy will be done," rather than "My will be done," which so many of us, Christian or not, actually live by.
This is where our unhappiness usually comes from; we are not seeking God's will, but are own. Isaiah 55:8 reminds us that God's "thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways, my ways..." So often seeking our own will is the source of our unhappiness. We think we know what is best for ourselves - a job, a relationship, wealth. But when we get what we want (or think we want), we too often find we are still not satisfied, not happy. "God's Bucket List" reminds us that happiness comes from accepting God's plan for us. When we actively seek and accept God's plan we are often surprised at what it is that really makes us happy.
"God's Bucket List" consists of eight "agenda of adventures [God] wants you to experience, ways of living before you die." She got the idea from the movie "The Bucket List" starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, and realized as is the case for most of us, our bucket lists "focus only on sensation and pleasure: swimming the Great Barrier Reef...all of these goals seemed to focus primarily on sensory experience." Ms. Tomeo instead asked "what about the spiritual things in life? Where was God in all this?"
Throughout the book, she discussed the eight things that help us make God's bucket list our list and uses her own struggles and accomplishments to illustrate the need for each thing. When looking at her own life, before putting God first, when she asked the question, where was God, she realized "He was, at least for me, nowhere to be found. "God's Bucket List" is more than a list, it is Teresa Tomeo's own journey towards God and making His will her will.
Readers may find that they need to incorporate one or all eight things on God's bucket list. Each of the chapters cover a different area that needs to be addressed as well as why it is an important part of God's bucket list, and finally, what you can do to make it a part of your own bucket list. Starting with the need to be still, Ms. Tomeo points out that "a quarter of Americans say they are 'often' or 'always' too busy to think about their future...We just seem to be going from one task, one assignment, one errand to the next." Does this ring true for you? Then read how adding stillness can help!
If you read this book and you are like me and like to underline inspiring passages, then keep your pen handy. Be ready to be changed into the person God wants you to be and enjoy the happiness and peace God has planned for you!
March 20, 2014
Very inspiring and down to earth. Teresa Tomas has a way of telling stories and sharing experiences that is very personable. I love the message to detach from the material world and draw closer to God. It is a book with a powerful and effective message for our culture. Now if we can get people to read it, it will impact people, families and the culture in a powerful way.
February 17, 2015
Always insightful reading when you read anything from Teresa Tomeo! Loved this motivational reading!
May 17, 2024
A few good ideas for God's bucket list for you. A lot of Catholic doctrine encouraged. Author feels that only the pope and Catholic priests can interrupt the bible and what God means. Not my religious belief.
February 26, 2018
This was a very good book if you are looking for references to other publications, there are several sites throughout. I didn’t take as much away as I thought I might, but still glad I read it.
May 5, 2020
Honestly, the book doesn’t ring into my heart. I’m sorry. I am reading by my eyes, not by my heart. 🥺
August 26, 2025
“God won’t protect us from that which can perfect us.”
November 6, 2013
Teresa Tomeo writes that she first heard about it when the movie The Bucket List, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, was released. She wrote, in the beginning of God's Bucket List:
"That movie made me think about my own 'life list.' I love lists, and even though I didn't call it a bucket list, for most of my life I'd had a list of things that I wanted to accomplish in my life."
She then shares some of her story, though not in such exhausting detail that, if you're a long-time fan, you'll be bored before you begin. The "bucket list" idea comes in as she examines what God wants for each of us.
And that gets the reader into the book itself, which is centered around Scripture and Catholic teaching in a way that's both catechetical and entertaining. God's bucket list is aligned with the fruits of the Spirit, which makes sense (and makes the catechist in me smile broadly).
She writes that she was unfamiliar with the fruits of the Spirit during her many years as a cradle Catholic. She had little or no idea how to apply them from a Catholic perspective after she came back to the Church. Tying them in with the sacraments, as she does in this book, provides a catechesis for all of us, her readers.
One of the looming questions of this book is why it's so challenging to figure out if we're on the right track. The answer? The call to true discernment on both a long-term and an everyday level.
This book is full of wisdom and common sense topped with Tomeo's signature flair. Translation: it was fun to read and worth my time. I'm recommending it.
"That movie made me think about my own 'life list.' I love lists, and even though I didn't call it a bucket list, for most of my life I'd had a list of things that I wanted to accomplish in my life."
She then shares some of her story, though not in such exhausting detail that, if you're a long-time fan, you'll be bored before you begin. The "bucket list" idea comes in as she examines what God wants for each of us.
And that gets the reader into the book itself, which is centered around Scripture and Catholic teaching in a way that's both catechetical and entertaining. God's bucket list is aligned with the fruits of the Spirit, which makes sense (and makes the catechist in me smile broadly).
She writes that she was unfamiliar with the fruits of the Spirit during her many years as a cradle Catholic. She had little or no idea how to apply them from a Catholic perspective after she came back to the Church. Tying them in with the sacraments, as she does in this book, provides a catechesis for all of us, her readers.
One of the looming questions of this book is why it's so challenging to figure out if we're on the right track. The answer? The call to true discernment on both a long-term and an everyday level.
This book is full of wisdom and common sense topped with Tomeo's signature flair. Translation: it was fun to read and worth my time. I'm recommending it.
September 25, 2015
I have a nightstand full of books my Mother In Law has given me. I get a new one for every birthday, anniversary, Christmas and just when she's thinking of me. Bless her Saint-like heart, she never even flinches when my response to "Have you read that book yet?" Is always "No." (If we're being honest, half the time I've forgotten the titles and what they are about). Well this woman prays for everyone, never daring to leave anyone out. She serves the Lord and she serves others before herself. So why shouldn't I give back just a little and actually read what she buys for me? I've decided to read one of "her" books between each of "my" books. And you know, she may be onto something.
Anyway, God's Bucket List was much slower paced than what I prefer to or am used to reading. But it was Ok. Sometimes it's good to slow down and to remember your faith. And that's exactly what this book is all about. I thought it rambled and went off course a few times (just like my long winded, completely unnecessary backstory at the start of this review), but it got the point across. Learn your faith. Live your faith. Love God.
Anyway, God's Bucket List was much slower paced than what I prefer to or am used to reading. But it was Ok. Sometimes it's good to slow down and to remember your faith. And that's exactly what this book is all about. I thought it rambled and went off course a few times (just like my long winded, completely unnecessary backstory at the start of this review), but it got the point across. Learn your faith. Live your faith. Love God.
November 18, 2016
“The key to this grand way of living life is submitting to God’s version of fulfillment and abundance instead of insisting He bless, approve, and put the final stamp on our version of things.”
What if, instead of creating our bucket lists off of things we want to do, we create them based on what God wants us to do? The idea of this kind of to-do list is explored by Teresa Tomeo in God’s Bucket List. The author does not dare say the book’s topics are inspired just to her but that they are based on what the Bible has to say about what God wants for our lives.
I heard Tomeo speak at a local event a few weeks ago and added several of her books to my to-read list. God’s Bucket List was the only one available as an e-book through my library’s Overdrive app. It was checked out to me soon after I requested it. Tomeo is a Catholic radio program host and author of several books. She used to work in the news industry and now runs her own public relations business. For more about the author, visit www.teresatomeo.com.
Read more here: http://sarahannecarter.com/gods-bucke...
What if, instead of creating our bucket lists off of things we want to do, we create them based on what God wants us to do? The idea of this kind of to-do list is explored by Teresa Tomeo in God’s Bucket List. The author does not dare say the book’s topics are inspired just to her but that they are based on what the Bible has to say about what God wants for our lives.
I heard Tomeo speak at a local event a few weeks ago and added several of her books to my to-read list. God’s Bucket List was the only one available as an e-book through my library’s Overdrive app. It was checked out to me soon after I requested it. Tomeo is a Catholic radio program host and author of several books. She used to work in the news industry and now runs her own public relations business. For more about the author, visit www.teresatomeo.com.
Read more here: http://sarahannecarter.com/gods-bucke...
November 5, 2013
Teresa Tomeo has written such a great book that is so personable. I feel like she is talking with me as I read God's Bucket List.
The book hooked me as soon as I began to relate with Teresa's search for happiness in her career. I fell to the same pitfall in my life. She writes that "nearly lost everything that was important to [her]." It's such an honest and personal thing to reveal to everyone that your success in life did not lead to happiness.
This is a book that I think will appeal to anyone. The author gives her view of 8 items that God wants for our lives. Each one provokes deep thought and lead me to challenge assumptions about my life.
Here's an example of wisdom from the "Live with Stillness" chapter: Don't just do something, sit there. She's encouraging us to stop being busy all of the time and allow time to be still with no distractions from electronic gadgets.
So, if you want to dig deeper into wisdom that is relevant for us today, I think you will enjoy God's Bucket List.
The book hooked me as soon as I began to relate with Teresa's search for happiness in her career. I fell to the same pitfall in my life. She writes that "nearly lost everything that was important to [her]." It's such an honest and personal thing to reveal to everyone that your success in life did not lead to happiness.
This is a book that I think will appeal to anyone. The author gives her view of 8 items that God wants for our lives. Each one provokes deep thought and lead me to challenge assumptions about my life.
Here's an example of wisdom from the "Live with Stillness" chapter: Don't just do something, sit there. She's encouraging us to stop being busy all of the time and allow time to be still with no distractions from electronic gadgets.
So, if you want to dig deeper into wisdom that is relevant for us today, I think you will enjoy God's Bucket List.
November 5, 2013
God's Bucket List is a clever book that asks you to consider tossing aside your own bucket list in exchange for God's. What would he have on your bucket list? Probably not climbing Mt Everest! Teresa Tomeo, author of Extreme Makeover: Women Transformed by Christ, Not Conformed to the Culture, delves into what God's bucket list for each of us might look like and does so in an entertaining, yet thoughtful manner. Teresa, who also hosts "Catholic Connection" on Catholic Radio, shares personal stories, many of which will make you laugh out loud and if you listen to her radio show, you'll hear her voice shining right through. I highly recommend "God's Bucket List" as a quick, inspirational and fun read for anyone looking for a more fulfilling and happier life (who isn't?!).
February 8, 2014
This book was a timely gift from God. Teresa Tomeo has a wonderful writing method that flows so well. I felt as if I was in Florence, Italy sitting at an outdoor cafe table with her as she was discussing her thoughts and ideas on obtaining happiness through God.
God's Bucket List views happiness as a process that can be obtained with complete willingness of devotion in a step-by-step process. This book is a great resource to bridge inner peace and happiness with God.
December 1, 2013
This book was not just a book with a great message, it was written in an enjoyable voice. The book encourages as it challenges, and inspires while it entertains. After this I will certainly be looking into Tomeo's other writing.
Tomeo has a firm grasp on Catholic theology, but that doesn't cause her to come across as an academic. Reading the book feels like reading a letter written from a close friend or family member.
Tomeo has a firm grasp on Catholic theology, but that doesn't cause her to come across as an academic. Reading the book feels like reading a letter written from a close friend or family member.
November 3, 2016
A mediocre thought experiment by former newscaster/journalist. What would your life be like if you followed God's bucket list of things He wants for you instead of things you want for yourself? Or if you aligned them to be the same?
Maybe after it settles a bit I'll have more positive things to say, but I had a hard time relating to a privileged and self-centered post-menopausal woman. I didn't hate the book, it just didn't have a solid universal message, which is too bad.
Maybe after it settles a bit I'll have more positive things to say, but I had a hard time relating to a privileged and self-centered post-menopausal woman. I didn't hate the book, it just didn't have a solid universal message, which is too bad.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 21, 2020
I got this book through good reads read first. This book was ok. It held my attention at the begging to where I couldn't put it down. About half way through I lost interest as the writing style seemed to change and wasn't directed at the reader. It was a good and easy read, not something I'd go out of my way to find and read again though.
December 15, 2013
Very quick read. Written almost in conversation style but I was surprised that the lightness did not equate to low content. Sparks deep thought especially for those at transitions and tough times. Well worth the few hours it takes to read.
The resources are exceptionally good and worth following up on.
The resources are exceptionally good and worth following up on.
May 27, 2017
Gloriously confined to my room with a cold while my husband manages the children. (Guilty, but happy, sigh.) I'm currently in the middle of 6 books. D'oh! Time to finish them up or admit defeat.
About a quarter of the way through this short book. It is a quiet, peaceful and reflective book. Which makes it hard to pick up in the rush of daily life. But I aspire to read and contemplate it.
About a quarter of the way through this short book. It is a quiet, peaceful and reflective book. Which makes it hard to pick up in the rush of daily life. But I aspire to read and contemplate it.
August 8, 2014
I won this book in a goodreads giveaway and found this book to be a truly remarkable read. I would recommend this book to anyone. I found it to be very inspirational.
January 21, 2014
A nice shift from "my" bucket list of today's self-centered society to God's wants and ways.
December 7, 2014
Love a book that makes me think of things in a different manner.
January 28, 2015
A great read for someone looking to find ways to grow in faith. Tomeo's antedotes of going from a C&E Catholic to a catholic radio personality touch anyone that is looking.
February 14, 2015
This was an okay read, probably a Catholic would enjoy it better, I think I am just partial Max Lucado.
December 19, 2015
..Teresa Tomeo shares her story how she was converted from a lukewarm cradle Catholic to an Evangelist and Motivator... She shows the list of things that might be God is asking us to do...
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews