i'm such a "do-er" that the whole "retirement" {sitting on a porch in a rocking chair for hours on end thing} doesn't really appeal to me.
kinda like how the world's idea of heaven is floating around singing hymns all day doesn't appeal to me.
but i don't think that is what God intended for either of those things
{well, i KNOW that's not what Heaven is going to be like! you HAVE to read Heaven by Randy Alcorn...}
and i'm pretty sure that's not His desire for us here on this earth - the whole "retirement" thing.
we need to FINISH WELL!
again...hard for me to relate to at this stage in life.
i KNOW i will get more tired...and things will change and slow down...but we need to keep seeking Him and what He has for us each day...not let things get mediocre...
{just preaching to myself here to come back and read in..oh...30 or so years! :-)}
Don't Take It Easy
by Charles R. Swindoll
Last fall one day at the church, I spotted a visiting gentleman who was shaking hands with a half-dozen folks he’d never met belore. Then he looked at me, and with a grin and a twinkle, he whipped out his hand. It was a hand you could strike a match on, toughened by decades of rugged toil.
"You look like a man who enjoys life. What do you do for a living?" I asked.
"Me? Well, I'm a farmer from back in the Midwest."
"Really? I guess I'm not surprised, since you've got hands like a tractor tire."
He laughed . . . asked me a couple of insightful questions, then told me about his plans for traveling on his own.
"What did you do last week?" I asked.
His answer stunned me. "Last week I finished harvesting 90,000 bushels of corn," he said with a smile.
I then blurted out, "Ninety thousand! How old are you, my friend?"
He didn't seem at all hesitant or embarrassed by my question. "I'm just a couple months shy o' 90." He laughed again as I shook my head.
He had lived through four wars, the Great Depression, sixteen presidents, ninety Midwest winters, who knows how many personal hardships, and he was still taking life by the throat. I had to ask him the secret of his long and productive life. "Hard work and integrity" was his quick reply.
As we parted company, he looked back over his shoulder and added, "Don't take it easy, young feller. Stay at it!"
The Bible is filled with folks who refused to take it easy. Remember our friend Caleb, who, at age 85, attacked the Anakim in the hill country and successfully drove them out (Josh. 14)? Or Abraham, who had a baby (well, actually Sarah did) when he was "in his old age" . . . he was 100, she was 90 (Gen. 21)? Or Noah or Moses or Samuel or Anna, the 84-year-old prophetess . . . significant people, all.
Age means zilch. Wrinkles, gray hair, and spots on your hands, less than zilch. If God chooses to leave you on this old earth, great. If He makes it possible for you to step aside from your work and move on to new vistas with fresh challenges, that's also great.
And whatever else you do, don't take it easy!
"No disease is more lethal than the boredom that follows retirement" (Norman Cousins).
1 comment:
Great post Courtney! I have slowed down but not completely stopped! And Don & I know that we don't want to move south like so many folks do. We want to continue what we're doing in serving Christ. And, if we moved south we wouldn't have the privilege of baby sitting our precious grandchildren!!! :-)
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