Nearing Home - Billy Graham [12]
Consider Your Spouse
Don’t make this decision by yourself; your retirement will affect your spouse just as much as it will affect you. If your spouse is still working, will he or she retire at the same time you do? If not, what will you do while your spouse continues working? If he or she isn’t working, what changes will your retirement bring to your relationship? If your spouse is opposed to your decision to retire or doesn’t understand why you are considering it, it may be best to delay your plans.
Consider the Pitfalls
“Throughout my career I was surrounded by people I enjoyed working with,” one man told a friend of mine, “and I always felt like I was an important part of the team. But now no one calls, and I feel like I’m useless. I dropped by the office a few times just to see how everyone was, but I almost felt like an intruder.”
Loneliness, loss of purpose, depression, feelings of worthlessness, anxiety, fear of the future—these and a host of other emotions are common among retirees. Sadly, some find themselves unable to cope with their new situations, and a surprisingly large number of retirees succumb to illness only a year or so after they retire. “The death certificate I signed says he died from a stroke, which was medically correct,” a doctor told me about one of his recently retired patients. “But I believe he really died of a broken heart. He just felt useless and didn’t want to live any longer.”
Be aware of these pitfalls as you consider retiring, and do all you can right now to prepare for the inevitable changes that retirement will bring. God doesn’t want you to end up feeling useless and depressed; He also doesn’t want you to make unwise decisions about your future. Don’t enter retirement without careful forethought and planning or without the conviction that God is leading you, for the Bible says, “A prudent man gives thought to his steps” (Proverbs 14:15).
RETIREMENT AND THANKFULNESS
Let’s remember that many generations before us have been where we are today without the conveniences we enjoy. Those conveniences have given us more time to use on other activities throughout our days. Most of us no longer have to grow our food, carry water every morning, or travel many miles just to talk to a friend. Instead of being frustrated by technologies, let’s be thankful for the time they give us to concentrate on His blessings. Considering all God has given can fill the hours—and it should. “Finally,” Paul told the Philippians, “whatever things are true . . . noble . . . just . . . pure . . . lovely, whatever things are of good report . . . meditate on these things” (Philippians 4:8 NKJV).
NEARING HOME WITH THANKSGIVING
The apostle Paul wrote those marvelous words of hope to the church in Philippi while he was in prison. His living conditions were crude, yet he wrote a letter to his fellow believers in Christ to spur them on in the faith. Paul’s captors no doubt felt they had retired Paul from his service to God, but Paul’s zeal for his Savior spurred him on when he wrote, “One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead” (Philippians 3:13 NKJV). Though Paul was nearing the end of his life, he didn’t allow the past to hinder his future—he pressed on. In another letter Paul wrote from prison to his friend Philemon, he referred to himself as “Paul, the aged” (Philemon v. 9 NKJV). Yet he did not allow his imprisonment or his physical limitations to prevent him from encouraging and challenging others to persevere in doing what is right.
The Word of God should fill us with thankful hearts that God Himself has not forsaken the aged. Are you willing to be used by God regardless of being bound by physical ailments, financial constraints, or the loneliness of growing old? Out of Paul’s need, he was reaching out to others. Think of Paul’s restraints, and then consider