Exciting, isn’t it? Looking down the road of retirement and envisioning all the freedom to do just as one pleases. Imagining the trips, the outings, the relaxed mornings over coffee – we have a lot to celebrate as we enter this season of life. I don’t know anyone who would turn down weeks on end of planning to do exactly what you feel like doing after years and years of punching the clock, being on time, working through fatigue and exhaustion, answering to bosses or being a boss who has to manage others with finicky personalities and quirky habits. Even those of us who have loved our work are thrilled with the endless hours of freedom!
So we celebrate – job well done, daily productivity behind us and the open road ahead. We know we’ll have time for grandkids in the midst of our relaxing days, we will probably keep doing a few things we did before – maybe a book club we’ve attended, a Bible study, an exercise regime. We will find time to do “all those things I haven’t had time to do” when we’ve been committed at work to be as productive as possible. This freedom is intoxicating and might take some time to get used to, but we celebrate the opportunity.
But is this season really ours to plan out? What if all of us who are retired and follow Jesus began our retirement in a totally new way? What if we made our bucket lists and then submitted them to Jesus for his review? What if we went on a silent retreat where we listened for God’s direction and wisdom to project into the future? What if we ended up with Jesus’ bucket list for us instead of us asking him to put his stamp of approval on ours?
And perhaps some of you reading this have followed the same path God put me on very early in my life – steps to overseas ministry were clearly defined as I look back (of course, not at the moment, only in hind sight). My father was pastor of a large church, we had missionaries in our home, he became Chairman of the Board of World Missions for our denomination and traveled extensively in that role, I fell in love with French in high school and went on to get my Master’s degree, I wrote regularly in my journal that if the Father left me here on earth long enough (meaning the boys were launched and doing well), I wanted to go to the mission field. I must have been born with that gene to go and proclaim. I come by it honestly.
Or perhaps you have been incredibly active in your faith community – Bible Studies, Sunday School classes, mission trips, church committees, lay leader, hospitality, and more. Many parents follow along with their own children teaching Sunday School, then moving on to Youth Groups and even young adults. Many singles give lots of their free time to help in areas where the church needs assistance. We’re looking forward to pulling back and handing over to the next more energetic generation.
And perhaps your family and professional life has been so demanding you have never had the opportunity to do anything for your faith community but attend worship and give financial support. Is retirement the time to begin serving in the church and beyond?
Retirees in the faith community find themselves in a multitude of mental states – relieved (the hardest is over and I’m ready to relax) excited (can’t wait to start enjoying this freedom), depressed (what if I can’t find meaning in life?), fearful (what if my health or my finances fail me?). But would any of these different fears and joys we spend so much time thinking about matter so much if we took a different perspective on this season of life?
Let’s remind ourselves that the word retirement doesn’t exist in the Bible – it is a cultural institution that has only been defined and instituted in any widespread manner in the past 100 years – mainly because life expectancy left us here much longer than we were physically able to do manual labor. We are the recipients of a system that is actually fairly new, but now very widespread and a cultural “god” of sorts throughout the Western world.
Let’s challenge ourselves to be the retirement generation that rethinks how we spend all of this financially funded free time we have. Let’s have discussion about where the hours go in a day – do they go mainly to self or mainly to others? Do we have a good balance of entertaining activities and volunteer service activities? Are we blessing our families with time, prayer, and community? At the end of the day, if we stood before the Father, would he say “well done good and faithful servant?” Do we see ourselves as basically consumers of “the good life” or also givers of life to others? Is God our guiding light or are we looking to other “gods” to fill up our days?
By virtue of life’s circumstances, your list and my list will look different. But all of us can begin the retirement journey in the same place – at the throne of the Father, at the foot of the cross, listening for the only wisdom we need to navigate – the wisdom of the Father who is for us. If we remember how He lavishes his love on us, how he calls us His children, how much he desires us to walk in His ways because they are His best for us, we will be able to live these years with great joy, His grace and peace.
And a piece of advice from A.W. Tozer:
“As God is exalted to the right place in our lives, a thousand problems solve themselves at once.”
Let’s solve these retirement problems by exalting God to his rightful place in our lives. Let’s be God’s people in retirement and enjoy these days to the fullest!
Don't Waste Your Retirement 