day 183: The Ultimate Retirement Party

You don't hear of that many retirement parties happening these days. Sure, they are still there but since the average age of retirement has pushed back and with the economy chill causing people to need to stay in their jobs longer, there aren't as many retirements happening as there once was. Nearly everyone I know who has officially retired from work has some bittersweet feelings about the event. On one hand they are excited to have the freedom and capacity to pick and choose how to spend their time. On the other hand, they know they will miss the camaraderie that comes from work and the fulfillment that comes from getting work done. They also worry about the loss of the self-esteem and redefinition of who they are...after they leave their job. After 30 plus years of defining yourself as someone who does a job for a company, it is hard to find the words for who you are after that all stops. Many people after retirement find themselves, like the pro-athletes do, coming out of retirement and taking one more job or some other type of work because what they had envisioned post their work-life, was not what they thought it was. This happens all the time. I personally think this is because the vision that a person had for what life would be like after working was not clear and they hadn't set their personal goals against that vision, so when they got there they weren't sure this was where they wanted to be. So they retreat back to what they know...work. As believers, I sometimes wonder if we aren't the same way with our vision of heaven and our ultimate retirement party. Today, my wife and I, and her family, will be burying her Father, Aldo Preti. A true worker on many levels; retired executive, Catholic Deacon of 36 years, Father, Grand-Father, minister to the sick and hurting, teacher, gardener, builder, tinkerer, etc. He was never short of work to be done; as he defined work. And he was a great example of a man who brought His purpose to all the work he did. My Father-in-Law has already had his retirement party with God. We are given God's promise that he has gone ahead of us to make all of those preparations for us; "...I am going to prepare a place for you. When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am." Knowing that God is preparing my ultimate retirement party and my ultimate retirement plans is one of the most exciting things I can imagine and we all should take a moment to reflect that at the end of this road we have something marvelous and miraculous to anticipate. We can look forward to the ultimate retirement party. In the meantime, let us all enjoy the work that God has given us to do here on this earth. Let us try and take each moment that we put of ourselves into our jobs and find joy in the achievements and the accomplishments, but more so in the examples and points of touching others along the way so that they may see that we work with one purpose; to bring glory to God in all that we do.

Reference: John 14:2-3 (New Living Testament)

Working With Adversity

Today is not a usual post of Purposed worKING (and since I am posting on the weekend, we won't count this against the days of the year). As I write this, I am sitting in Hackinsack, NJ. at the bedside of Aldo Preti, my 83 year old Father-in-law, who is dying. We are told that we are in the last days and hours of his life. Among many great traits, my Father-in-law was a real worker. His profession was that of a senior procurement officer for a number of companies. During his time when he served as a senior executive with ITT, he traveled all around the world, which provided many hours of stories, places and times where his children and grandchildren would never travel or experience. He was in Iran in the days leading up to the overthrow of the Shaw; one of the stories that will in indelible to all of us. After his professional career he spent 36 years serving in the Catholic church as a Deacon working in the hospitals visiting and providing support and care for the sick. And now, he is one of the sick. Among the lessons of dying, grief and how we interact with each other in these most difficult of times, it has also been evident to me that death's intrusiveness is something that no matter how we think we are prepared, we are far from being ready. It is only at birth and death that we allow our lives to be totally overtaken for others. I am watching my brother-in laws who both are entrepreneurs and CEOS/Founders of their companies stop their work and spend spans of 24-48 hours in a row around the bedside of their Father. Their work has stopped for more important work. The Founder of Jews for Jesus, Moishe Rosen, wrote in their June newsletter wrote about his own dying (he has advanced cancer)and what opportunities can come from this type of adversity. He says, "Do you remember being a kid on a road trip, continually asking, "Are we there yet?", or "Are we almost there?" Maybe later on you found yourself on the receiving end of such questions, which are almost always asked with impetuous impatience. We need perspective, not only at beginnings, but also at the end of things, as well as in-between, so that we might patiently understand the rate of travel. Adversity has us asking questions to help us determine what is ahead, and what we should do about it. Adversity points out where we have been, and challenges us to realize where we are at. When God asked Adam, "Where are you?" it was not because the Almighty Creator had failing sight or suddenly forgot the geography of the Garden of Eden. No, He was asking Adam to take stock and gain perspective regarding his spiritual condition. In the face of adversity, be it physical or spiritual, God asks us where we are - not because He doesn't know, but because He wants to us to gain perspective, to see if we are where we should be." This week we all face our own adversities. They may not be as acute as my Father-in-law or Moishe's illnesses but there will be decisions to be made about what is important and what is not. When God asks, us, like he asked Adam, "Where are you?", He is asking if our mind, time, energy and perspective are in the right places? As we all work and try the best we can to bring glory to God in what we do, may we also never lose the view of the bigger picture and what God truly has in store for us.