Retirement

For a number of years I've been thinking of retirement.  When should I retire?  What will I do when I retire?  I can't wait to retire.

 

When I turned 60, I went into Pastor's office and told him that in 2 years, I would be able to collect social security.  Well, 62 came and went, and I kept working but still thinking and dreaming of retiring.  I was thinking things like, "I'd just love to be home every day with no responsibilities and nothing to do."  It sounds kind of selfish, doesn't it?  And realistically, would I be happy if I had nothing to do?

Well, my thoughts have been taking a different turn recently.  The Lord has been leading me to reading material that challenged me in my journey. One of those was a book entitled, Mary Slessor of Calabar: Pioneer Missionary.  What an amazing woman she was.  What impressed me as I read Mary's story was how determined she was to keep working in spite of the way she felt.  She was often ill with fever and other tropical diseases but she felt the call of God to continue the work He had led her to.  Even at the end of her life when she was no longer able to walk, she had men carry her to the villages where she taught the natives about God and the Bible. 

Mary's example really ministered to me.  Here I am in a comfortable job, requiring little of me other than getting up every morning, driving 1 mile, working with people who love me and God.  Granted I am not Mary and I should not beat myself up because I'm not "suffering for Jesus" and my life isn't as difficult as hers.  However, I couldn't help but think that this life is a prelude to the next.  What am I doing to get ready?  Why do I think I need to retire now when I'll have all of eternity to rest and enjoy life in heaven.

re·tire·ment

/riˈtīrmənt/

Noun The action or fact of leaving one's job and ceasing to work. The period of one's life after leaving one's job and ceasing to work.

Synonyms retreat - seclusion - withdrawal - superannuation I'm not crazy about the synonyms of retirement, especially the "seclusion" and "withdrawal" ones.  Do I really want to withdraw and become a hermit?  I can't imagine that. Then, too, I've been reading and journaling for my devotionals this year from Oswald Chamber's My Utmost for His Highest.  Some of the thoughts: My life is not my own.  I have been bought with a price.  I did not choose Jesus, but He chose me and appointed me to the task He has given me.  Do I bring God into my plans?  I love to organize and administrate, but do I consult Him and trust Him if my plans don't go as expected? Do I serve the Lord by doing it my way or do I listen to His voice and wait for His instruction? Am I recklessly abandoned, totally surrendered and separated by God for one purpose?  To proclaim the gospel of God?  (Romans 9:3) Do I ask God for petty personal things that have to do with my comfort and nothing to do with the furtherance of the gospel? Am I ready to be poured out as a drink offering?  Philippians 2:7.  Am I willing to be poured out, used up, spent, not seeking to be ministered to, but to minister?  This reminds me of the old hymn: Must I be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease, While others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas? Oh I must fight if I would reign Increase my courage, Lord. I'll bear the toil, endure the pain Supported by Thy Word. In the face of persecution, the early Christians did not pray for comfort and safety, they prayed for courage!  See Acts 4:29. My life of service is the way I say thank you to God for His inexpressibly wonderful salvation. Do I allow God to be the source of all my dreams, joys and delights? On Sunday we sang a Robin Mark song:  Jesus, All for Jesus.  As I'm singing it, I'm asking myself, do I really mean what I'm singing?  Jesus, all for Jesus, All I am and have and ever hope to be. Jesus, all for Jesus, All I am and have and ever hope to be. All of my ambitions, hopes and plans I surrender these into Your hands. All of my ambitions, hopes and plans I surrender these into Your hands. For it's only in Your will that I am free, For it's only in Your will that I am free, Jesus, all for Jesus, All I am and have and ever hope to be. I'm not my own, I've been bought with a price. I want to want what God wants.  His way is best and He does what is best for me.  It's only in His will that I am truly free and happy. He has given me the gifts that I need for the job He has given me.  How can I think of not using those gifts for Him when they help the body of Christ and bring me fulfillment and joy? So until God shows me clearly that I need to stop working, I will keep on keeping on.  Lord, help me.  I live in a culture that needs to know.  If I have a question about anything, the answer is mine as soon as I type "google."  But God doesn't operate that way.  He wants me to trust Him enough to wait.  I love the verse in Isaiah 64:4:  "God...who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him."  He knows the end from the beginning and His ways are best.  I can trust Him with my life and future.

Our Other Kids

A couple of years ago, Dawn was talking to a single friend who commented that there were activities and groups for the college age singles, seniors, and families.  This person was feeling somewhat left out because she was an older single and didn't know where she fit.  Dawn mentioned that she knew a number of people in that category.  Because of that conversation, God gave Andy and me a concern for this group of people and we talked about this need at our church staff meeting.  All the pastors were already busy with ministry, including us.  Everyone also agreed there was a need but no one was sure what to do about it.  Well, after praying about it, Andy and I decided to get involved and host an initial meeting to try to determine if there was enough of an interest to begin a ministry to older singles.

Initially, we had about 5 or 6 women in their late 30's and early 40's who attended.  We started with a game night, then began meeting every other Sunday night at our house for Bible study and fellowship.  Word started getting out and we actually had a couple of women in their 50's who begged us to let them come, too!  So we did.  At first, we just served some refreshments in the form of snacks.

Then the Lord laid it on my heart to start serving dinner to whoever came to our evening meetings.  We opened up our dining room table to as large as it would go and bought 2 more 8 foot tables. We can actually seat 18 comfortably around the table in the dining room.  I feel this is very important for these dear singles to experience a home cooked meal - family style.  It has made a huge difference, adding to the feeling of love, acceptance and connection we all feel for one another.  Some of these singles are divorced and these are especially in need of a warm and loving home atmosphere.  Some have not had good moms and dads either, and we count it a privilege that God has blessed us with more "kids."  Of course, with parenthood comes responsibility and involvement and we've had to have some hard discussions, but everyone has been receptive and respectful toward us and each other.

We try to plan fun times as well as our evenings of Bible study.  We have had game nights at our house, outings for miniature golfing and bowling and picnics in the park.  Our "kids" have enjoyed making new friends.  They will say things like:  "a year ago, I was so lonely.  I came to this church not knowing anyone.  But now I have lots of friends;"  "I've been to lots of churches looking for a group like this, but never found one till now."

How good of God to hear the cries of the lonely and broken hearted.  He promises in His Word that He does this and He is faithful to carry out His promises.  He has not only blessed our "kids," but we are receiving blessings, too.  It's a privilege to see God at work in the hearts of those we love, encouraging them, maturing them and watching them reach out to help others. We can echo John in his 3rd letter:  "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."

We started out with 5 women in our group, but we have grown to 49 (on our distribution list) women and men.  Not everyone comes every time, which would be a problem if they did.  We're not sure where we go from here.  Our house will only hold so many and parking is an issue, too.  But this is God's ministry and we will trust Him to continue it in His way.  We have discussed building another addition (joking!) or a barn/large shed, but we're just not sure at this point.  We're waiting on direction from the Lord.  This is His ministry and I'm sure He'll provide.

February Birthdays

There are lots of advantages to having a large family, one of which is there is always a birthday or 2 or 3 to celebrate.  Christmas is no sooner over than it is time to think about birthday presents.  There happen to be a lot of birthdays in January, February and March.  So let's get together and party!

Asher's is January 31st so Andy and I went up to their house on Tuesday, the 29th.  We had a good time visiting and spending time together before dinner.  Christy makes the best pizza!  And instead of birthday cake, she had made an out-of-this-world delicious chocolate banana cream pie!  Asher was excited to blow out his 5 candles!

And he loved the nerf gun we gave him.  We didn't see him the rest of the evening because he was so busy shooting it.

There are 3 birthdays in February:  Dawn's, Christy's and mine.  So we planned a party at our house on Saturday, Feb. 9th.  The forecast was calling for snow on Friday night, but we weren't sure how much we were going to get.  New England got a lot of snow, but we were on the edge and when we woke up on Saturday morning, we had only gotten about 4 inches.  I was concerned that someone might not want to risk the trip.  But the sun was shining and even though it was still cold, the roads were clear by the time everyone needed to be on the road.

I made 2 kinds of soup, chicken noodle and tomato based barley.  Amy brought a delicious sandwich casserole dish (that I must get the recipe for), Christy brought a salad, and Dawn brought the carrot cake and dessert.  Wow!  So much food and everything was outstanding.

 It was a house full of people and kids (and 2 dogs, too!).  The kids were so excited to be together and Andy and Tommy helped in that excitement.  They were chasing each other through the house and screaming until someone got the brilliant idea to let them watch a movie.

 

It's so nice that they enjoy being together.

So here is my haul.  Amy made these beautiful placemats for me - perfect for the Valentine's theme this month.  Christy gave me 2 books that I hadn't read yet and Dawn gave me a gift card to Chipotle.

We had our meal at lunch time and Andy's mom and dad joined us for that.  And after our meal, we started planning our next party.  Grace's birthday is in March, Aiden's in April, Andy's in May, and Naomi, Chase & Joanna are in June.  Birthdays are a wonderful way to remember how grateful we are for each person represented and how God has blessed our family.

Never too old

It’s official.  I’m a university student.  I like to think I’m a life-long student – there are always opportunities for learning.  But life learning is not usually a classroom with a professor and taking tests on what’s been taught. 

So 39 years after my college classmates graduated, I’m hoping to get my diploma in May.  I only needed 5 credits to graduate – so close.  Who knew?

Tommy encouraged me to do the investigation on what it would take to graduate.  It took a while for them to find my transcripts (they must have been saved in some old dark-ages vault!). But after they did and blew off all the dust, it didn’t take that much more effort to figure out what was still required of me.

On Saturday, I went to orientation at Cairn University where incoming students were served a delicious breakfast, heard a speech from the provost and another from the director of the degree completion program.  Then a lot of time was spent giving instruction on how to do e-learning. 

This is the 21^st century and this experience will be a lot different from when I went to school.  Actually, I think it will be a lot easier.  I remember typing papers up on a typewriter and miscalculating how much room to leave for footnotes.  Then the whole page needed to be retyped.  It was really an exercise in patience and diligence to write a paper in those days.  I do not have fond memories of that.  Now we have computers which will help immensely. 

My first class begins on Feb. 23 and runs for 5 weeks – Saturdays from 9:00 – 1:00.  Then I’ll get a week off before beginning my second class which will be done in time for me to graduate in May.

So the bill has been paid, I've got my t-shirt and I'm ready to go.