Reluctant Retiree

If we are careful observers of people, we can see or hear them make several small invitations to us throughout the day. For example:

The grocery clerk’s smile and happy countenance is an invitation to smile and enjoy the interchange, making both of our lives a little more pleasant.

A smile and a hug from a loved one at the beginning of the day is an invitation to a deeper shared relationship.

A friend leaning in to listen to your story is an invitation to share more of yourself with him or her.

God sends us many big and small invitations to us each day like:

The sound of birds chirping in the morning.

Gentle rain to water fields of flowers and crops.

The beauty of towering mountains and the rhythm of ocean waves washing ashore.

The warm sunlight after a series of cold days.

A gentle stirring in our soul to look up, be positive or help someone in need.

These are His gentle invitations to join Him in the good things He offers us. Taking a moment each day to think about these invitations and perhaps thank Him for them will help us through the day and draw us closer to Him.

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.” Romans 1:19 ESV

I can make a legitimate claim to being an April Fool. I was born on April 1, 1950, seventy years ago today. Go ahead and tell me how my parents were fooled or one of many other jokes that I have heard over the years. In fact give it your best shot to try and tell me a new joke about my birthday. Write in the comments section. I would love to hear it.

Besides being born on April 1st, I can lay claim to the “Fool” title by having done many less than intelligent things in the past. I was part of a group that reenacted cruel judgments at our school’s 49er Days. Besides the obvious poor taste, which I do regret and apologize for, the reenactments scared the daylights out of children. Then there was the time that I moved a friends car from the front of her house.

I don’t know that my foolish actions were the logical result of my birthday or some other personal deficiency. However, I am grateful that God doesn’t consider me unredeemable. In fact He says;

“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.”

I have been redeemed by God and you can be too. We don’t have to remain in our weak or foolish state. If we let Him, God will redeem us where we are and bring us wisdom and strength in Him.

You’ve heard it said that suffering or trouble reveals our true character. We’ve all seen or heard of heroic acts in the face of great danger. But we’ve also witnessed people fall apart at the slightest inconvenience, like the raged induced rants of someone for whom a pickle was inadverantly put on their hamburger at the fast food restaurant.

In these days of the coronavirus, many people are suffering greatly with losses of loved ones or jobs, as well as those who have contracted the disease. My heart and prayers go out to these dear ones and I am constantly looking for ways to help those who need it. And I admire those who are on the frontlines battling this disease. They have my sincere admiration, praise, thanks and prayers.

Thus far however, many of us are merely inconvienced by such things as “shelter in place” and social distancing, among other restrictions. Most people can handle this type of “suffering” pretty patiently and cordially. Others are outraged at these limitations or consummed by the danger “out there”.

How we react is evidence of what is going on inside; in our hearts, minds and spirits. It is possible to be concerned about the pandemic and still react peacefully and with strength.

For me, that strength derives from faith in a sovereign and powerful God. Although we don’t know how the virus originated or why it is spreading so fast, it is pretty evident that selfish actions of a few people have been the driving forces. Those who refuse to practice social distancing, frequent handwashing, etc. have endangered all of us.

I choose to keep my eyes on God and run the race He has given me. I am asking Him to keep me safe and give me patience during the pandemic. I pray for the welfare of your family as well.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV

Part of the problem that I have with retirement is what I call the struggle for significance. I believe that God endows our hearts with a desire to be significant in some way. Many of us try to satisfy that desire with money, food, attention or fame, friends or lovers, and/or success. I am sure that you, like me, have tried or are trying one or more of these avenues. In retirement most of these avenues are no longer available to us.

The problem is that they never satisfy us anyway, even if we do achieve our goals. That’s because the only thing that will satisfy us is the one who created the desire, God. Now we may think that this some kind of cruel joke, but actually it is driven by His love for us.

You see, He created us out of His love and wants nothing more than for us to love Him in return. We can show Him that we love Him only by putting these other struggles behind us and put Him first. If we do that, He promises to give us a future of significance and hope.

Take a moment to consider what this means for you and how you should respond to His love for you.

“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 ESV

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

Just before I retired people would often ask me, “What are you planning to do in retirement?” I never had an answer for that as I hadn’t planned on retiring.

After I retired, the question that they asked was, “So you got this retirement thing down pat?” I didn’t have an answer for that either. To be honest, I didn’t know what to do. I knew that I didn’t want to just sit around the house, but I didn’t want to be committed to a lot of activities that I may not continue to enjoy.

So I volunteered to help in several good causes. Despite advertising that they wanted help, none of these organizations accepted my offers to help. As time went on, it became pretty frustrating.

Between the constant questioning from friends and family, and the rejections, I was not a happy camper. My attitude began to take a nosedive and I was not particularly easy to live with.

I prayed about the situation often. I heard God say, “Wait upon Me. I have something for you.” Sure enough opportunities did begin to open up. God led me to a number of places where I could help with compassion ministries. I started to mentor men at the rescue mission and other places. He gave me several other opportunities to serve others in short term assignments. These ministries helped me to feel better about retirement and myself.

After a couple of years, God gave us the opportunity to help a fantastic group and really be His hands and feet to serve others. Tune in next time for that story.

“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength” Isaiah 40:31 ESV

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus your own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus your own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus your own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.

In about a week I will celebrate the five year anniversary of my retirement. Actually “celebrate” is a misnomer and overstatement. There will be no cake, balloons or even a night out. You see, I didn’t really want to retire, nor did I even expect to retire someday.

You may find the idea that I did not expect to retire someday a bit unusual. After all, isn’t it part of the American dream to leave work behind and enjoy leisure in our Golden Years. Well, I have always had a different take on that.

You see, I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I believe that He has given me the greatest gift I could ever receive, that is savation through His death on the cross. Therefore, I want to give back to Him all that I am and have, including whatever little time I have left.

So what led to retirement? As with many of us at this age, the job I had just passed me by. Although I was working in a ministry that I loved, they moved in a different direction. I could have stayed and continued to draw a paycheck, but I didn’t have much to do anymore and I didn’t think it was right to use the ministry’s money to pay me.

Anyway, I retired. Now what? Stay tuned to the next blog post!