Good Monday morning...

 

… and it is time for some spring cleaning, at least that is what I’ve been telling myself.  Besides the obvious closet and drawer removal of unused items, I have been tossing around the idea of some bigger changes, one is staring me in the face… Medicare.  I have a window of opportunity to decide, seven months as I understand it, which for me begins in April and ends in October, this year.

But what about retirement?  I have no intention of retiring this year from either “job” as I am fully committed to both and abundantly blessed to be doing what I love to do.  However, the thought of passing the baton responsibly in both jobs is on my radar.  I’ve always been a bit of a “late bloomer” not hitting my stride physically until well after my high school years, for example.  But there doesn’t seem to be any more blooming, and finishing well is more in view than ever.

Of course, we don’t know when our last days are going to be.  My dad’s life ended when he was at the beginning of a new career selling tools, a very abrupt ending.  But that was an unforeseen bout with cancer.  While anything can happen, I am thinking about the vitality of two positions that I have grown into, that I pray will be filled by someone who can pick up where I end up leaving off.  I am thinking of a strategic transition from work to retirement.

The encouragement I hope you take from my musing over these thoughts is that life for the Christian is a balance of our responsibility and God’s sovereignty.  To just shrug my shoulders and say, “whatever God wills, will be done” is true, but irresponsible.  Better to say, “God, please guide me in Your will for my life, and lead me to act accordingly.”  I have found this to be the guiding principle that has led me to where I am.

Oak Springs Community Church is a unique body of believers that is so blended into the community of a senior apartment complex that it deserves this kind of strategic thinking.  Hospice of the Valleys is a very well led, and principled non-profit organization that I am less concerned about the next Spiritual Care/Bereavement Manager who succeeds me, but the same prayer applies… “God, please guide me in Your will for my life, and lead me to act accordingly.

If you are in a place of doing some spring cleaning, of considering changes in your life, great or small, consider giving yourself over to seeking God’s will for such change.  No One loves you more than He, and no One has a better outlook for you than He.

For His glory,

Pastor Mike