I’ve been retired from the ministry for a couple of years now and I like it. I enjoyed my job of 35 years. It brought me much satisfaction and plenty of purpose. It gave me a place to go every day, my office, which I could call my own. I always had something that I was planning, some speaker I was bringing in, or an event that was coming up.
I always had plenty to do. One of the things you have to learn to do in ministry is unplugging. I had a hard time, even on vacation, trying to get my mind to shut down. It’s on your mind 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When you go to bed at night and when you get up. There is always someone in crisis or something you have to attend. It gets tiring.
I enjoy the slower pace that I live now. I set my schedule for the most part as I want to. But, I found out right away that I still had to have a place to go and a thing to do.
I was talking to a couple in Cabin Fever that were recently retired. The wife said that he goes out to his shop and will stay out there for 8 hours sometimes. I told her just because he’s retired doesn’t mean he doesn’t need a place and a thing.
A place being somewhere that you can go to call your own and a thing being a purpose that is bigger than you.
I’ve run into many people that loose their purpose, they retire and say they want to fish in the morning and play golf in the afternoon. There is certainly nothing wrong with that, but that usually only lasts about six months. A life of leisure is nice, but it doesn’t fill the deep need for purpose. You have to have a reason to live. You have to be involved with something bigger than you.
I’ve counseled many who’ve said to me, “I just don’t feel like I have a purpose. I don’t have a reason to get up in the morning.” What gets you out of bed? Where do you go? Is it a place you can call your own? Is your life fulfilling? If it isn’t, you might need to make a course correction.
I have a work shop under Cabin Fever that is my place. It’s a place I go to work on my many projects. I have a set of speakers that I plug my phone into and listen to pod casts, or music. I think a lot there and plan my schedule. It is my place. Women have told me that they get frustrated with there husband being home all the time. It’s because he’s violating her place. She needs a place as well.
It used to be that women had an automatic place and that was the kitchen. They would spend hours there doing there thing. It isn’t that way any more. The women’s place has moved. It isn’t like that with every woman, but with a lot of them it is. The point is…you NEED a place and a thing. Everybody does. It gives you power to perform.
Take the next step and develop a place and a thing in your life. Volunteer somewhere or take up woodworking. Do something. Don’t dry up. All of us have heard of the guy that worked in a factory or an office for 30 years, retired and died the next week. Don’t be that person. Take some steps to get on the right path. You will be blessed if you do.
