Geneva's Blog

Good morning, my wise Readers,

Oh, the audacity. I’m scared to even tell you to get comfortable or grab your beverage of choice. Geneva, what are you thinking?

Look, I’m going to share a possibly surprising truth with you: I’m not and have never been retired. While I have experienced being young, and am currently living in middlish age, even though my 14-year-old seems to think I am ancient I am not yet pensionable. I am now writing into uncharted waters. However, I do feel passionate about what I am about to share with you. I am attempting to go for strong opinions, loosely held. Please – I am asking you to respond with your own opinions and ideas! This is a topic I feel is incredibly important and not talked about enough. Okay, *gulp* let’s go!

What does purpose look like in the age of retirement? What a great question, I’m so glad you asked! You’re retired? Congratulations! You have worked hard and accomplished so much! Finally, you can work full time on your purpose without the financial constraints you’ve been dealing with your entire adult life!

I do not understand why we call it retirement. There are so many better and more accurate ways to describe it! The Era of Freedom? The Time of New Beginnings? The Age of Intention? The Adventure You Get to Choose? Those sound way better to me than retirement. Retirement sounds like you are disembarking from the main part of your life and saying goodbye to your purpose, when in fact, you are starting a brand-new phase that could be your most impactful yet!

The answer to your question is that purpose at this stage is just as vital and relevant as at every other stage. You are still called to pursue your passion and realize your potential. The difference is that your potential has suddenly changed. And not in a negative way. You still have your knowledge and skills, but you have now gained something. One of your most important assets, your time, just increased massively.

When younger people talk about retirement, it’s often talked about as a distant dream. It’s seen as our reward for “putting in our time”. We will have earned this, so we should get to live a comfortable life without the responsibilities and commitments we’ve had to shoulder along the way. We will be able to relax and do whatever we want. Life will be like a vacation. Honestly, this sounds… horrible.

Where is the purpose? The passion? I hope that you have been able to live your purpose through every part of life, including your career. I hope that you have been able to make a difference in an area you are passionate about, and that your entire life aligns with your Assignment. If that is the case, great! Then you probably already have exciting ideas about how your newly freed up time can be used to serve your purpose in a new way. If not, then how excited are you to finally be able to redirect all your resources toward your purpose?

God makes it clear that our lives are full of purpose in older age. Titus 2:2-3 says “Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Likewise teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.”  Psalm 92:14 says that the righteous “will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green” Hmm. Being worthy of respect, self-controlled, reverent in the way you live, and teaching what is good. These qualities do NOT sound like someone on a permanent vacation to me.

Are your responsibilities different now? Yep! Are they gone? Absolutely not. Our time is not our own. It, like the rest of our lives, should be given to God.

Do not be confused. Your retirement is not your reward. What waits for you in Heaven is. If you are still here, you still have work to do and an Assignment to complete. There are so many items in your arsenal available to you now that you did not have earlier in life. Time. Wisdom. Experience.

Have you seen the movie by the Kendrick Brothers called The Forge? If not, I highly recommend it. In the movie, there is a community of spiritually mature men who each take on mentoring relationship with a younger man. They spend time with and pour into that young man, intentionally teaching from God’s word and their own experience. The community meets every other week to eat, encourage, and hold each other accountable. They call themselves The Forge, because they are helping to forge young men into their true selves through discipleship.

I love this idea so much! Titus shows that at least one role of older people is to mentor and teach. Why not make this more formal and intentional? Wise available mentors are something young people don’t even realize they desperately need. This could be true in a professional capacity where you are guiding someone through career questions or in a spiritual capacity. Even better, in both!

You know what we need? You’ve heard of relationship matching apps like Tinder? We need one called Mentor (okay, you come up with the name!) where older people can list their qualities, strengths, and experiences and younger people can list what their goals and current situation are, and the app matches you with the perfect mentor/protégé pairing! Until someone more technologically savvy than me invents that, maybe we just need to create these communities on our own.

 Don’t tell me you don’t know of a young person who could use some wisdom! Take them out for coffee or a walk. Start a Bible study. A book club. Meet for breakfast once a week. I bet you will be surprised by how much value that younger person will place on your time and attention.

This is one idea that inspires me, but there are so many avenues you could pursue with your time! Seriously, tell me something that you are excited to do with your newly realized set of resources. I’d love to hear it!

So, here’s your homework:

1. Watch The Forge – for real, it’s a great movie!
2. Find someone to mentor!
3. Comment, message, or email me your ideas about how you can realize your potential in retirement.

If you’re still here, thanks so much for reading! Talk to you soon!