THE
GOLDEN YEARS?
“And I’ll say
to myself, ‘you have plenty good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be
merry.” Luke 12:19 (NIV)
Numerous corporate mergers and downsizing have prompted many of those who
are approaching the “Golden Years” to think seriously of retirement and escaping
the rat race. The usual pattern
consists of starting to squirrel away money and looking forward to “freedom
day”. Like the “Rich Fool” in our
reading, plans are made to enjoy the good life. Unfortunately,
numerous retirees discover that a steady diet of golf, tennis, or any of the
previously coveted activities quite quickly lose their attractiveness and
retirement often begins to become a grind.
Doing the same activities over and over becomes boring and the zest for
life decreases--their lament is echoed in this poem:
Since I have retired from life’s competition,
Each day is filled with constant repetition.
I get up each morning and dust off my wits,
Go
pick up the paper and read the obits.
If my name isn’t there, I know I’m not dead,
I get a good breakfast and go back to bed.
Unknown
What is missing? A sense of
purpose and the lack of feeling useful. When I considered retirement, I
envisioned each morning making a decision as to what I wanted to do that
day. Unfortunately or fortunately,
I have not found that to be true.
I do have “blocks of time” to utilize but most of my days consist of
previously scheduled activities.
I have my Monday routines, Tuesday routines, etc. Although this may seem more like a job
than retirement, I have found that unless I have some kind of schedule it
becomes very easy to just fritter away the day and surely unlike the “Rich
Fool”, this isn’t what our good Lord intended for utilizing our
time.
If we accept the concept of tithing, what implication does this have for
the utilization of our days? Does
retirement present the opportunity to get to know our Lord more intimately or to
work full time to lower our handicap at the golf course? Considering we now have free blocks of
time,
how
much of it should be dedicated to our Lord? 10%?, 20%?, 50%? What could be done with this time? Utilization depends on individual
interests and skills but surely there are many opportunities to serve in a
variety of ways in our church and community. Unlike the “Rich Fool” we need
to
invest our time in serving others and not solely in pursuing self-gratification
in order to someday hear the words, “Well done good and faithful servant”.