Christian Living

THE FUTURE IS NOW

by Charles (Chuck) Robey
01/07/19
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“Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?”  (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3)

How is it in your retirement world? Is it balanced?  Is it stable or is it falling apart? Situations do fall apart and things are mended, whether objects, buildings, bodies, relationships or communities. We do repeat yesterday's mistakes and today's accomplishments. However, the sun keeps rising on it all.

Sure, we might now have microchip technology and be able to hit a golf ball on the moon, but we still get bored in life, and whether you're wise or foolish, your heartbeats are still numbered. There is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

So how does one balance out retirement, between God's principles and the world's thinking? (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2)

What has happened to me? It seems as if I went to bed in the 50's and suddenly awoke in the 21st century. Was it just a dream or am I now a part of the "over the  hill" gang who by some divine miracle has slipped into my retirement years? Yes, the future is now.

Dream or no dream, I am now finding retirement to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

A time to concentrate on "the things that count in life.” A time to spend time working in my local church. And a time to get out and be a positive influence within my family, friends and neighbors. Even though my dream world seems to give a secular view of retirement life, Divine revelation is still in command of any life, regardless of the situation.

Do you remember that old cliché, "You can't go home again?" This idiom is just one among the many statements quoted down through the ages. But what does it mean to a wanderer who carries their home with them, to a runaway child abused by their parents or to a homeless man, who has no home?

To me, home actually means a place of comfort and safety, a place where one is loved by all concerned. So is the meaning of this old expression physical or is it just a metaphorical pipe dream? And how does it parallel retirement?

As for my retirement, I may have just talked myself into the "can't go back in life" camp. One must make the best of his or her retirement years, while they may.

I have been retired now a number of years. In some ways it just seems like yesterday, and in some respects it has been a virtual lifetime. Yes, in retirement one cannot roll back the years. With each day comes a complete new ball game of life and what we do with it, or how we handle it, is all up to us.

Like many others, I just knew I'd set the world on fire. I would become like so many other great Shakespearean orators by sharing my vast life experiences with all my neighbors at our little monthly town hall senior get together. Well, guess what? I failed in the orator's role, as well as many other projects I tried to take on. I couldn't even win at checkers, not to mention my bingo failures.

One would think, after so many retirement let downs, giving up would be a relief. However, I just continue moving along. You see. I knew the wife would be so happy if I indulged in the many handyman projects on her honey-do list, which suddenly without notice appeared hanging on my work shop wall just waiting for my retirement.

To complicate matters even more so, my workshop was filled with the many TV advertised fool proof gadgets that make for an easier handyman life style. Did I ever get a wrong number here, including not getting my orders doubled!

Why I even tried those miracle fountain of youth pills advertised on prime time television. You know the ones that will magically shed pounds, put spring back in your step and greatly improve memory. But, sadly to say, I still have to ask the wife what day it is as I rise to begin my day's reign in my own little man cave kingdom.

One of my first projects after retiring, was to become better educated on the world's current events. After all, if it was told on national television it had to be true, right? So I settled back in my "Frazier Dad" comfortable recliner, (you know the one, held together with all that duct tape) and tuned in. Boy, was I surprised! How did this planet get in such disarray? Just where have I been the last 50 years? Oh well, life is depressing enough, without some expert commentator telling me. So much for the TV news.

Now, I just love those TV home and garden shows - the ones that tell me how to remodel my home in three days with a budget of a few thousand dollars. I must admit, I'm not the smartest fish in the pond, but I do have some logic. Life is what you make it, and that includes our glorious retirement years. So, I think I'll drive down the street and visit my favorite fast food joint for breakfast. For you see, with a coupon I can get the gravy and biscuit and the senior coffee for less than two bucks. If lucky, I can join the other seniors in helping solve the world's problems over my cup of decaf coffee.

Or, if I'm energetic enough, I'll just mosey over to the gym and work out on my free senior pass, by joining all the other "Mr. Senior Americas.”

And, since I feel so good, I may just hike out to the old woodshed, uncover my old '49 model classic car, and try once more to get it cranked. After all, the third time is the charm, right?

Yes, retirement life, in spite of what you might have heard, is great. And about all those uncontrollable worldly phenomena about which you read, just take life as it comes by rolling with the punches.  Since I can't do anything about such happenings, I'll just take Deputy Barney Fife's advice and "nip it in the bud," those ever-present negative thoughts, that is.

Yes, the realistic practicality of those retirement years may or may not be new for you. However, just skip through that second childhood right into the new world of retirement sanguinity.

Wake up, grab that cup of coffee, walk out on the back deck and smell the roses.

"For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for well-being, and not for calamity, in order to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11)

Author's Postscript

This nice poem, taken from (christart.com/poetry),  sums it all up. I trust you will enjoy it.

My Life's Journey

by Deborah Ann Belka

I have walked on this earth,
for many, many years.
I've stumbled and I've fallen
over my doubts and my fears.

Many times I have thought,
another step I could not take
and life's troubling journey
I just did not want to make.

I struggled with the frantic pace,
I wrestled with the anxious stride
until the day, I came to realize
I was marching to my own pride.

I knew I needed deliverance,
from the course that I was on
and that is when I felt my life
to God being forever drawn.

He set me on a new path,
and saved me from the pit
for that's where I was heading
until my sins, He did acquit.

I have lived on this earth,
for many, many years . . .
but now I'm walking in His light
living without any doubt or fears.

Psalm 56:13
King James Version (KJV)

"For thou hast delivered my soul from
death: wilt not thou deliver my feet
from falling, that I may walk before
God in the light of the living?”

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