One year ago today I began a new chapter in my life. I retired.
I began working, and getting paid for my labor, when I was a young
teenager. My first job was bagging
groceries at the Big Star food store nearly 50 years ago. Since then I’ve had 19 different jobs (that I
can remember, and yes I counted. I know,
there’s therapy for such behavior). I drove
delivery trucks, worked in factories making such things as doors, mobile homes
and auto license plates. Most states use
prison inmates to make license plates but that is another story. I was a children’s daycare counselor, sold
men’s clothing, upholstered furniture, and roofed houses. I even worked as a debt collector. Now that’s really another story. Oh yeah, I also did a little work as a
minister…for forty years.
All those different jobs gave me a well-rounded experience
and viewpoint about life. They also made
me very tired. I was raised to ‘give a
day’s work for a day’s pay’. I wasn't a
workaholic but a hard worker, whether it was a minimum wage summer
job or a career position with a six-figure salary, I gave it my best. I was conscientious, meticulously organized and
dedicated to the task.
Retirement has been quite an adjustment. Shifting gears from having primary
responsibility and ‘being in charge’ for most of my career hasn’t always been
easy. Most days I enjoy activities of my own choosing but there are also days where I’ve been
bored and felt useless with absolutely nothing to do. The latter has been the more difficult
adjustment for a hyper person like me.
People ask, “What are
you doing now that you have retired?”
My initial answer was; “I have
been trying to live each day following 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 where the Bible says, “to make it your ambition to lead a quiet
life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we
told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that
you will not be dependent on anybody.” Leading a quiet self-sufficient life is actually
more suitable to my natural personality.
I am really more comfortable as an introvert than the extroverted
personality often expected for a minister.
But God called into the ministry and gifted me for the task so I put my shy
nature aside and worked hard at following God’s call to teach, preach and live
the truth of the Gospel even when it ran counter to my preferred personality. Don’t get me wrong I’m not complaining. It has been a wonderful and exciting adventure.
However, I learned there is a difference in doing what is
expected and what God desires. There is
also a difference in ‘working for’ and ‘walking with’ the Lord. As a hyper guy driven by a strong work ethic,
I fit well in Baptist church life. I
think we have an unspoken theology that the busier we are the less likely we
are to fall into sinful activities. “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop and
idle hands are the devil’s tools.” I
often shared my favorite church poem; “Mary
had a little lamb. It would have been a
sheep. But it joined a Baptist Church
and died from lack of sleep.” We
even had a song in our hymnal entitled, ‘We'll Work Till Jesus Comes’! We love to stay busy doing good for God. I worked hard studying theology, Hebrew,
Greek, and anything else that would help me understand and teach the most
accurate truth of God’s word, which was good. But, I also learned that there were times when my ‘good’ activities
clouded and distracted me from a more personal walk with Jesus. When one closes out distractions, one can
more clearly spend quality time hearing Jesus.
Now, there is nothing wrong with much of the activity that comes with
church work, until it gets in the way of walking with God. I often said, “One of Satan’s favorite activities is to get believers involved in a good cause.” One can get so busy that one can miss the joy
of just being with Jesus. It can become
easy to fall into the routine of working hard to please others (and self) rather
than doing what God desires. That's a real danger for dedicated busy church members and ministers.
So now when people ask, “What
do you do now?” I have learned a better response; “I realized that I spent 40 years working hard being ‘Martha’ and now I
am enjoying being ‘Mary’”. That declaration
comes from the following scripture; Luke 10:38-42, “As Jesus and his disciples were
on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home
to him. She had a sister called Mary,
who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted
by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord,
don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to
help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about
many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what
is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
I realized that over the years I had often become distracted
by “all
the preparations that had to be made”.
There were times when, like Martha, I would become worried and upset
over “many
things”. Oh, I was sincere with good
intentions but there were always things that “needed” to be done. And I often thought if I didn’t do them then they
wouldn’t get done or they wouldn’t get
done well or the way I thought they should be done (OK I admit it! Happy?). Jesus told Martha, and those of us who get busy
with “all the preparations”, that actually only a “few
things are needed—or indeed only one.
Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
As I cleaned out my office that had become crowded over the years
with books, writings, sermons, certificates, plaques, awards, etc. I realized much
of the stuff I worked long and hard in accumulating is temporary. Most has now been either given away or is in
boxes in my attic and garage. While being busy with the “preparations that had to be made”
seemed important at the time nothing should ever get in the way of
simply enjoying time with Jesus. That activity will continue into eternity. That’s why the better choice of Mary who “sat
at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said”, will not be taken
away.
So, what am I doing now that I have retired? I am enjoying
being more like Mary. As a product of
the Mississippi public school system perhaps I was a slow learner. I guess I had to retire in order to fully
get it. But let me share this little
secret with you: no matter what age or place you may be in your life or career
or how demanding things may seem to be, you can ‘choose what is better’ today! You don’t have to retire or stop good work in
your church, community or charity just don’t get caught in the trap, as Martha
and I did, of being so busy that you miss the pure joy of
just spending time sitting “at the Lord’s feet listening to what he
said”. Jesus knew Martha loved
Him as much as Mary did, as do I. Jesus also
knew Martha meant well, as did I. He
loved Martha as much as He loved Mary, as He also loves us. But, Mary found the secret to greater blessings
and joy in her life and relationship with Jesus and it was never taken away. So as your days unfold don’t get too busy to just
sit at the Lord’s feet and listen to what He says.
