Thinking About Retirement

Scripture:
Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say,
“I find no pleasure in them”.
Ecclesiastes 12:1

Observation: As the writer heads into their conclusion, they begin with this interesting statement about being aligned to the Lord in one's youth. Youth is defined as the time "before the days of trouble" and before "the years approach when you will 'I find no pleasure in them'". So when are these days of trouble, and these years that lack pleasure. Actually, the writer tells us next.

Those years are retirement. They are the years when strong men stoop and tremble (hunched with age and weakening muscles), when grinders cease (they don't work at their job), when the windows grow dim (fading eyesight), when they still are awakened by birds (still alive) but the birds grow faint (failing hearing), when people become afraid to walk in the streets (easier targets for crime), and when desire no longer stirs (they lose all motivation).

This is what the writer has led up to ... the idea that work is meaningless, and yet we are to seek the Lord when we are doing our work because still the worst days in life are when we no longer have work to do.

Application: I met a visitor to our church on Sunday named Odel. He lives in Atlanta and was in the area visiting friends, and attended our church two Sundays in a row. He is retired and travels freely. He told me retirement was something you had to retire "to" ... that you needed to move into a new type of work ... and I told him that one of the reasons I didn't yet feel ready to retire was because I didn't know what I would move into next.

I feel like Solomon is reinforcing this truth. No one should just retire and do nothing. However, I don't want to just do some 'side hustle' type job, either ... that's just getting paid less to still work. I would like to find a calling that the Lord endorses. I would like my wife to find the same now, as I can tell that her retirement (that started six months ago) is creating a hole in her that she hasn't figure out yet.

Prayer: Lord, I know full well that my professional path has been ordered by you. It will end in the next few years. However, I never want your path for me to end. I seek guidance for the next thing, whether it comes five months or five years from now. Amen.