Retirement

SAT., FEB. 17, 1990, 7:06 AM
FARM, STUDY

You wonder whether I have any new ideas, not already expressed, about this last segment of functional earth life. I have suggested that you compose your next Ruminations on the theme of the elderly, and this title seems to relate. Know, of course, that I do want you to research all of the volumes, so that you have all of the words and thoughts I have offered to you, o son.

For some people your age, and even younger, retirement is something to desire fervently. The job one has had in life is either not interesting, or has become so during the working life, or is just not right for that soul. Some people must work in jobs for which they are overqualified, intellectually and even educationally, so the job has no challenge. A few are promoted to a position for which they are incompetent, and this, too, makes retirement seem most desirable. Some jobs, of course, require physical strength, endurance, and agility, and these diminish naturally with age, making retirement necessary.

All of this is pretty sociological, and you know this isn’t the essence of My message. So I’ll say, as you might expect, that the basic reasons people look forward to retirement are that the job does not enhance spirit, and other activities do or that their spirits are not developed enough to appreciate the growth that can come from the lifetime’s work. So, those who most avidly want to retire either have a poorly developed spirit or look forward to other more challenging ways of expressing that spirit.

Conversely, there are those for whom retirement is the R-word… one not to be even said. Again there is a range of motivation for this desire to remain working, a range which is partly spiritual. Some have only the desire for the continuing income, for, realistically or not so, they see retirement as a time of relative poverty, which they try to avoid as long as possible. Spirit may be involved here, as in foreseeing only enough money to take care of self, without enough to share with others.

Others, of course, truly love their work, as you do, and know that this work for which they are paid is truly spirit-enhancing. They either continue to get better at what they do or compensate for losses and simply do the job differently. It is a pleasure for Me to see servants of Mine truly enjoying what they do in life and growing in spirit from their work. These have little craving for retirement. You, of course, are one of these.

Yet retirement must eventually come, unless death comes prematurely. My recommendations on retirement are for any and all irrespective of how they have related to that from which they retire. I recommend some continued exercise of the skills and procedures of the job. If one has been a carpenter, continue to use these skills in helping people, just as a friend. If you have been a teacher, continue to take or develop opportunities to teach, on a volunteer basis. If your job has involved writing, continue to write… letters, letters to the editor, stories for children… Your Father used his business skills as a help to the church and the union during the early years of retirement, with mutual advantage. Your Mother still writes interesting, thoughtful letters, even at her age.

The other recommendation is to use skills and talents in ways not demanded by work. Or… develop new competencies, even in retirement. When spirit leads, as it should, increasingly, in older age, it should direct you in ways of service to others, not because you have to, but because you can.

My main observation, however, is to utilize retirement as a time of appreciation of life here in the earth. Some life circumstances make this easy, but I recommend it for all. Do tasks less frantically, and with more appreciation. Don’t fear death or disability, but gently appreciate their coming, in one form or another. And thus let these appreciations motivate you to do each task with the “joy of living”… even little routine things.