Redefining Retirement

A cardboard box filled – “World’s Greatest Grandpa” coffee cup, photos of the family, a few “success” books, pens, pencils, a nearly empty package of breath mints, the outer one slightly gray – you carry the remains of a life long career. Tomorrow you don’t have to drag yourself out of bed. You don’t have to drag yourself anywhere. You won’t need to set an alarm. Not that it matters, you’ll wake up at 5:45, the same as you have for years.

What’s next? Relax. Take it easy. Who cares, you’re retired – free!

What does God say about retirement? Interestingly, he’s rather silent on the subject. Perhaps it’s because retirement is a fairly new phenomenon.

Long ago work had much more to do with survival than building a 401k. If you’re working to put dinner on the table retirement is going to leave you seriously hungry. However, maybe God is silent on the matter because he’s got other plans.

There was a king, hair thin and gray, hands gnarled, laying on his deathbed, literally. Bones aching, body weak, shaking, he just couldn’t get warm no matter what his servants tried. He’d lived a good life, had no regrets. He was ready.

Then came the news. You can’t die yet, there’s more to do. The heir to the throne was being usurped. Both were the sons of the king, the heir and usurper, so if either ruled the king’s lineage would continue. He could have rolled over and said, “I’m too old for this stuff. Let the young ones fight over it. My time is past.”

Not this king, he dragged himself out of bed. Calling his advisors, he determined the situation. He met with the leaders who ruled under him and made sure a coronation was held for the true heir to the throne.

Okay, that’s enough right. Get back in bed, old man. Nope, not yet.

The king took his son, the heir, and taught him. Reviewed all the wise things he’d taught him over a life of preparation. When the son was firmly on the throne, and the other son had abdicated his false claims to the crown, then King David, the giant killer and friend of God, retired.

Retired. It’s one of those weird re-words that doesn’t work. Re often means “again” – redo: do it again, rebuild: build it again, refrigerate: frigerate it again. Okay, refrigerate is another one that doesn’t quite work.

Retire. Maybe it means you spent thirty years getting tired, now, do it again. I doubt I’d get too many supporters for that definition.

Sometimes I picture it a different way. If you’ve ever watched a car race, you’ve seen a pit stop crew. Now I’m not mechanically minded, not even a little.

Last week I had to replace a rear turn signal bulb on my truck. It should have taken five minutes, but three hours and four trips to the parts store later I’d gotten so mad I broke the rear light assembly. I shoved it all back in and started once again to the parts store to return the new assembly I’d bought, the one that didn’t work. On my way to the store I absent-mindedly flipped on the turn signal – AND IT WORKED! If I’d have known breaking it would have fixed it I could have done that before I ever bought the new bulb.

Needless to say, I appreciate the skill and speed of the pit stop crew.
That race car can go round and round (never really getting anywhere in my opinion), driven hard, tires bald. It rolls into the pit stop and in a matter of seconds the pit stop crew has got the car re-tired. It’s ready to get back out there and do what it was created for.

I wonder if that’s God’s idea of retirement. He says, “Come to me you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”

“Yes!” you might be thinking, especially if you’re close to retirement. You might be picturing a hammock under a shade tree or a recliner in the den. Sorry to mess up your daydreams, but God didn’t stop there.

“Take my yolk upon you….” A yolk is the work tool of the oxen. It allows two oxen to pull a load together.

“You want rest, relaxation?” God asks. “Come and work with me. That’s where you’ll find it.” Maybe in God’s eyes retirement is more about re-commissioning. God giving you time to do a new job, maybe a job with much greater impact than the career you spent the rest of your life working.

There was a man who started a new career at age sixty-nine, when most of his peers had already been retired for several years. He only worked the job for eight years, but he was better known for that post than for any other thing he did in his life. His name was Ronald Reagan.

It’s an impressive story, but all he did was serve as President of a country. You could help build the kingdom of God. When the time comes let God re-tire you so you can get back out there and do what you were created to do.