Re-focus

I've just learned that a friend and ministry colleague is retiring. He's had a long and productive ministry. This news reminded me of the sentiments expressed by a former professor who noted, upon giving up his teaching position, that he was not retiring, just re-focusing his ministry. That's a great way of thinking about it, to my mind. But it's certainly not limited to the clergy. There's a sense in which the Christian disciple never retires, but may re-focus his/her energies for discipleship many times.

Life's changing circumstances present us with different opportunities for Christian service and influence. As one reaches the age of formal retirement from career or workplace, new doors can open. The numbers of folks coming into retirement in the first decades of this century are unprecedented. The expertise, ability, ingenuity and experience of these people is astonishing. They have earned a time of relaxation and a different schedule. Yet they also will be looking for significant ways to spend their remaining active years. Christian disciples particularly can re-focus on making a genuine difference for good in their communities, their churches and around the world. For them, it's a fresh sense of divine call on their lives.