Retirement at 50?

from Elliott

I have heard it said that with retirement you find yourself moving from a strong sense of purpose and a sense of being coming from a defined position to a world of less influence and authority. Somehow, though, in that ambiguous place new forms of ‘significance’ emerge in surprising ways through new relationships and engagement with a new calling.

I find myself ‘grieving’ for what I used to do and how what I used to know made me ‘somebody’ in our culture. I had position and it is easy to get used to the benefits of position. Now, I often find myself wondering do I know what I need to know for what I am about to do. Perhaps I am still seeing my new world using the lenses of my former world without having made the necessary transition to a new perspective – a Kingdom perspective.

Being ‘in between’ can be uncomfortable – kind of like straddling a fence! Which side am I on? When you are on both sides, you are really on neither and that is frustrating. While scary, you have to make a decision – one side or the other.

I am learning to seek God’s will for each day and hope that relying solely on his judgments, instead of the judgments of others, may make the transition less complicated and more fruitful.