A Season to Refocus

"Everything hurts and what doesn't hurt doesn't work!"

"You look forward to a dull evening!"

"You sit in a rocking chair and can't get it going!"

"Dialing long distance wears you out!"

"Your back goes out more than you do!"

Have you heard any of these lately? These are just five of the top 25 from the famous list of How To Know When You Are Growing Older.

You've probably also seen and read the birthday cards directed to senior adults:

"You're not old… you're classic!"

"If things improve with age, you must be getting pretty close to perfection!"

Why do we do this? Why do we make jokes about getting old? This kind of humor simply reflects our 'youth focused' society's bias that young is good and old isn't!

Even senior adults use humor as a shock absorber to survive the bumps on the road to retirement. Upon being asked to define retirement, one woman responded by saying: "Twice as much husband—half the money!" A recently retired man said: "By the time I retired I had found the key to success. The only problem is, I can't remember where I put the lock!" Someone else confessed: "My get up and go has got up and went!"

From the wisdom of Solomon we read: "To everything there is a season" (Ecc. 3:1).

The NIV simply says: "There is a time for everything."

Being born and raised in New England has given me an appreciation for the four seasons of the year. I enjoy the uniqueness of each one. I believe there is a similarity between the seasons of the year and the seasons of our lives. If we are blessed with many years of life and health, we will experience Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

Retirement is a Season to Refocus

It's a time to re-evaluate the value of your life and take personal inventory of the precious, God-given gifts you possess. Your retirement or refocusing years can be the beginning of the best, not the beginning of the end. There's more to this season of life than simply slowing down, taking it easy, letting someone else do it and waiting for your Social Security check to arrive in the mail or be deposited in your bank account.

Retirement is a critical time for anyone. Although some may look forward to it, many find the transition difficult, disappointing and even tragic especially if one retires to simply a rocking chair. It's interesting to note that according to insurance statistics, inactivity (doing nothing) is a leading cause of death for retired seniors.

There are marvelous opportunities waiting for you as you choose to refocus. Don't resist aging… it certainly beats the alternative, doesn't it ? These refocused years can become years of freedom, growth and fulfillment. In their book Every Day is a Saturday, authors Dr. James and Jackie Harvey give us personal insight into their season of refocusing:

"Our retirement has not meant a withdrawal or a move to the sideline. It has meant a 'refocusing' of our activity—a marvelous focusing on the things we want to do, like to do, and on what we believe God wants us to do… We are no less active now. The difference is we are doing the things that are more exciting, more fun, and no less meaningful than when we worked "

One of my concerns for older adults is that there are those who are consumed with retirement. They are driven to retire to play instead of refocusing on their personal gifts and talents and matching them with the ministry opportunities that lay before them. It is a time to reidentify their purpose for being and realize once again that they were created to serve the Lord and His church. It is very clear from the Scriptures that God's call upon a life is for a lifetime of ministry and service, not just until retirement!

It was exciting and rewarding for me to serve in the national office of Senior Adult Ministries for several years and observe a tremendous stirring among our older adults to be actively involved in their local churches. For the most part, senior adults are an untapped resource, a field of ministry gifts ready for active ministry in the end-time harvest. They are a reservoir of resources providing wisdom, experience, dedication, commitment, availability, and capability… Many are ready to present to their church four very special gifts they possess: their TIME, TALENT, TREASURY and TESTIMONY.

When older adults become involved in volunteer ministries within the local church, it meets a two-fold need:

1. The church redeems their unique ministry gifts and,
2. They in turn experience a feeling of being needed… a sense of identity and purpose once again.

Retirement is a season to reflect on how good God has been and to remember His great faithfulness! Every one of us are living testimonies of His many blessings upon our lives. Thanksgiving is not just a holiday we celebrate once a year in November—it is a way of life. Listen to the reflection of Jeremiah in Lamentations 3:22,23: "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: Great isThy faithfulness!" David, a man after God's own heart, opened his heart and declared: "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor His seed begging bread" (Psalms 37:25).

Retirement is a season to refocus. It is a season to reflect. Allow the precious Holy Spirit to sharpen your vision. Remember, 'you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.' Redeem your time. Treasure your time. Don't spend it, invest it! Dare to dream. Develop and nurture your dreams. Someone once said, "You do not become old until regrets take the place of your dreams." Press toward the mark and keep your eyes upon Jesus.

You will find the season of winter a marvelous experience filled with wonder. Travel light, letting go of the things of this world. Watch as they grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Focus on your treasures to be stored in heaven and one day you will hear Him say to you. "Well done, good and faithful servant… enter into the joy of thy Lord."