Stronger Purpose: What’s Next?
by Debbie Poer
“What’s next?”
That is a question anyone nearing retirement asks oneself over and over again. And if you are a younger person reading this – it will one day happen to you too. After spending a lifetime in school and career, retirement is a huge shift in thinking about one’s purpose and how one’s time is going to be used. Retirement is by no means an end, but rather it is movement from one season of life to another, much as graduating from college into a career or marrying and having a family are seasons. Often, panic and a sense of lost purpose come as we process entering our last life chapters and we find we must redefine or expand our purpose.
"What’s next?” was where I sat for a time as I was preparing to “retire.” Should I begin another career? Should I go back to school? Should I have no real plans and let each day take me wherever it wants? None of those seemed viable options. But what was next?
As I began exploring retirement, I first wanted to better understand the word. According to dictionary.com “retirement” is the act of leaving one’s job, career, or occupation permanently, usually because of age. In no way does it indicate retirement is to stop doing entirely. It is merely a transition to the next chapter of life. I needed to redefine my purpose.
Diving into Scripture there is only one slight reference to retirement, and it is found in Numbers 8:25-26 when God is talking with Moses about the Levites’ service in the Tabernacle. They are to cease the physical portion of the work (i.e., slaughtering animals for offerings, leading the people in worship) at age 50 but are to continue to “assist” in other ways. That makes sense. Our bodies age and we physically can’t do the things we once could. But we continue to have talents and skills that God can use.
With both of those thoughts in mind it becomes easier to see that in some ways retirement as we know it has become a culturally defined word meaning “to stop.” A better understanding of the word might be “transition” as we step into new and equally as good opportunities and challenges.
In her book, Aging Faithfully, spiritual director Alice Fryling says (note below), “It is not so much that my core identity is changing as it is that my view of myself is changing.” We still have many talents and skills. It’s a matter of allowing God to lead us in how we are to use them.
As it turns out “what’s next” really has been my taking a look at my life – my purpose - and listening to God as He continues to lead me. (Jesus’s words in Matthew 22:37 & 39 should inform purpose for all of us: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. … Love your neighbor as yourself.”) That part of me has not changed, but how I live it out definitely has changed and will continue to change as my body and mind age. But Paul spoke words of hope to the Corinthians, and they apply to us also. “Therefore, do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).
Over time as I have transitioned into my “retirement” God has challenged me in some areas to step back and allow others to do the heavy lifting while I remain available to encourage and assist. He has cautioned me to become more aware of my physical abilities – stamina, energy, etc. – and care for myself appropriately, so that I can continue to serve to my fullest. After the initial panic and sense of loss in making this transition I now find a sense of stronger purpose for the next season of life. As the old adage goes, “You have breath, so you have purpose.”
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The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first.
Job 42:12
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Alice Fryling, Aging Faithfully: The Holy Invitation of Growing Older (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress,2021), 43.
