Happy Thursday!
Everyone wants to make some kind of positive difference with their life. Well, most everyone. Of course there is a very small sector of humanity stuck in the trance of self obsession, not caring for anything besides the attainment of their own pleasures. But mostly, humans CARE… we have an endowed desire to HELP and MATTER.
As we age, we come into an intuitive grasp of reality over the shortness of our lives here on earth… we concern more and more over what we did with our brief moment. We look back over our careers and we reminisce through our trophy cases… and we start to wonder, “Has my life really mattered to anyone or anything besides me?”
Epiphany: (1) a usually SUDDEN manifestation or perception of the essential nature or MEANING of something (2) an intuitive GRASP OF REALITY through something (as an event) usually simple and striking…
During these intuitive grasps of reality… people start to examine their motives… and they’re driven into a HUNT FOR SIGNIFICANCE.
The following is another short excerpt from my unpublished book: Make Me a Legend. It’s a small unedited clip from chapter five…
A Hunt For Significance!
Let us give the next few paragraphs to the smartest, wisest, and best looking group among us. Yup, you’ve got it… I’m writing about our gorgeous grey heads! I’m wondering why this society puts so much pressure on its prime timers to fade from the workplace so early in life. At just about the time they have finally accumulated a real aptitude for astonishment, we chain them to a front porch rocking chair. If the average US life expectancy is now 77.6 years, and many of us are going to thrive well into our ninety’s, then why are we putting our finest war horses out in the fields to graze in their late fifties to early sixties?
Yes, I realize how so many of my readers have been brainwashed about the apparent blessings of retirement. Most of us not only dream of retiring, we fantasize about the possibility of an early retirement. During early childhood we are conditioned to believe that the earlier we can retire the more fortunate we will be. Like a bright orange carrot, we dangle retirement in front of ourselves… and the big reason we are working so hard in our 20′s, 30′s, and 40′s is so that we can rest out the remainder of our days, once we idol across that golden finish line.
Several years ago, as one of my very good friends was creeping up on his own finish line, he chatted with me about so many of his lifetime achievements. As the end of this stroll down memory lane, my gray haired buddy opened wide his heavy heart, and introduced me to the concept of significance. He explained that in spite all his many trophies, there was still something missing. Even though he admitted to having no idea what this significance would look like, he knew that it had not been achieved at the time of that conversation.
On that short drive down Greenville Avenue, I detected a tremendous degree of unrest in my senior pal! It almost felt like the advanced phases of a mental breakdown. He described his very passionate late life quest… to leverage all his years of education and experience to be or become a part of something of eternal significance. I almost heard Bono in the back seat singing, “and I still… haven’t found… what I’m looking for…” I’m so grateful for his transparency, permitting this young apprentice to think through something far beyond my own understanding. It was right there in his black suburban that I caught the unspoken burden of so many retirees.
Shortly after this special time with my friend, I was at a conference with the world renowned business coach, Mike Ferry. Since this particular conference happened to take place during Mike’s 50th birthday, he shocked us all with his bizarre optimism, dedicating an entire session to outline his life plan for the NEXT 50 years! I will never forget what Mike said to us that day! He gazes across his eager audience, you could hear a pin drop… we were all on the edge of our seats. Then Mike says, “I’ve spent my whole life gaining the wisdom that is necessary for me to achieve real wealth… and here is how I am going to do it.” While most everyone else starts prearranging their funeral at 50, guys like Mike Ferry write a detailed plan for attaining significance…
Why start this hunt for significance at 50? What if a few of us young-ins could TURN UP our subconscious passion and begin living the difference at 38, 28, or 18! No matter our age… life is different when one aims for a life that matters in light of eternity!
I hope todays blog adds tremendous value to your amazing lives! I sincerely love you all… praying often for your success! Thanks for reading, thanks for commenting, thanks for appreciating our work, thanks for believing in our historical future! Have a most outstanding day friends!
I've gone through this type of soul-searching more than once over the last… 10 years, or so. The one thing I want to know more than anything, is that I didn't live my life for myself, but lived it for God, and made an effect on this world, for Him.
One day, while the house was quiet, I had the opportunity to spend some time with God and ask Him, "what has my life meant, for You?" I was feeling once again that I had done more for the sake of "Michelle" than the sake of the cross. Granted, the devil can come in and beat on us if we let him, but this wasn't one of those moments. This was a moment of "Lord, I need to KNOW, and I want to see it the way You see it, no matter how rough it looks."
Well, God in His infinte mercy, took me back through my life, and showed me things that I wasn't seeing, good things, and a lot of things that I had forgotten about. He showed me some of the impact my life has had over the years.
And it didn't make me feel prideful in any way at all; on the other hand, it brought me to a place of humble gratefulness like I haven't felt in a long time. And I thank God that He was able to show me those things. I owe my life to Him.
As for making a plan for significance in the years to come, my singular thought is… YES! WHY do we teach our kids that there is a stopping point, that "retirement" is a blessing??? Yes, God rested on the 7th day, but He rested AFTER His plan had been accomplished! When it comes to life goals, the only reason we should quit a "job" is because we have a ministry that takes precedence! God never wants us to quit! He wants us to have a Sabbath rest, yes, but He doesn't want us to quit!
So even though I am approaching "that" age (!), I am gearing up for even more activity, not less. I am doing a "lighthouse" run, something that another woman who is at least my age does on a regular basis. She jogs the Currituck Lighthouse three days a week, and each day that she does, she goes up and down that lighthouse TEN times. Of course, I don't live down there so I can't do it three days a week. And I'm not prepared to go up and down the lighthouse ten times (not yet, anyways). But I'm still doing it! I was planning on going down there in October, but with my mom's situation changing rapidly, I may have to put it off. Still, that's my plan and I'm doing it. I'm going to jog the lighthouse — 217 steps up, and 217 steps back down. And after that? Who knows? God does, and He has a plan that extends far beyond retirement years. And I know that part of that plan is at least three novels that are roaming around in my head. :0)
God will give each member of His body seasons of rest, but He has no retirement plan! What He has been speaking to me recently is, "Prepare." He hasn't said what to prepare for yet, but I sense within my spirit a need to be ready, on all fronts. So I'm getting ready as best I can, on all fronts: physically, mentally, spiritually, socially, financially, geographically… any way I can. But the sensing within my spirit of "being prepared" is like that of a Boy Scout, but a WHOLE LOT DEEPER and more serious. God's got something up His sleeve, and He wants us in on it, but He wants us prepared.
You interpreted my thoughts accurately Michelle. Thanks for sharing your story… its adds great value to the blog. Yes, I agree with you about the whole REST thing… and I'm most definitely not trying to deprive my elders the privilege of enjoying the fruit of their labors. I'm simply calling them to take all that influence and experience… and find significance.
Maybe life is like the compounding of interest… and we are capable of doing MORE with our final decade or two than we did with all the others combined! Nice thought isn't it!!
Oh, Pastor Chuck, I don't think anyone would accuse you of trying to deprive your elders of rest. And I like your last comment about compounding interest. That's a great way to look at it!
But I think your comment is also true. Look at the life of Moses. God gave him his greatest task, in the LAST third of his life. If you compare that to us today, since most people live to be at least 75, that means that they're not going to step into their greatest task until they are 50, or after! Paul didn't step into his greatest task until the latter portion of his life, either. For Abraham, life was pretty much an exciting ride for quite a while, but Isaac didn't show up until Abraham was well on in years… and then Abraham had to raise him and teach him all about God!
If our attitude is, "I'm 65, I'm done," then we're missing it. Really missing it.
OUTSTANDING Michelle! Thank you so much for really engaging with this topic!!! That was such a FUN conversation! =)
Excellent Michelle and Chuck.
Each day we should be asking God what do you want me to do now!!!!