The introduction is one
of the most important sections in the book as its job will be to convince
readers the book is worth reading (and potential publishers that it is worth
publishing). Consequently, this section will probably change dramatically as
the book comes together. Arguably, the introduction should be written last, but
I want something to both guide me and to be able to show to a publisher or
anyone who is interested. As you may have guessed, I’m not very happy about
what I have so far, but I’m trying to hold to sharing with you all a chapter
every two weeks. I need deadlines and while self-imposed ones often don’t work,
public ones usually do.
The hook or
opening paragraphs of an introduction are especially critical. I came up with a
few two-paragraph openings, so I’d love to hear your thoughts on which one you
think would work best. I included three of them. The first one is personal, the
second is more circumstantial, and the final one is societal. Some of the
material that follows these possible hooks doesn’t follow smoothly, but that will
be easy to clean up once I’ve settled on the hook.
As always, I’d
love to hear your feedback. I'm not concerned at this point about typos or grammatical errors. I'd rather hear your thoughts on the general direction of this chapter (and others), what you disagree with, or what you wish I had included. Thanks!
Introduction
Almost three years ago, I retired.
I was 65 years old and loved my work helping to lead a company I had co-founded
twenty years earlier. I had come, however, to believe that my work was bad for
my health, and I no longer felt called to it. My father suffered from
Alzheimer's in his 70s and I was not far from that age. I was having some cognitive
issues and worried I was headed down the same path. Fortunately, my co-founder
was understanding and allowed me to retire. Things happened very rapidly and I
had not done much thinking about retirement other than that my wife and I had
done the necessary financial things to make it possible.
I
was not prepared. I had plenty of vague notions of what retirement would look
like, but no real plan. My usual answer in such circumstances is to read books
on the subject. I found very few books on Christian retirement. The more I
looked, the more disappointed I became. This book is my attempt to better fill
that void.
OR
Everywhere I look I am being fed
information about retirement. A recent Prudential commercial proclaimed,
“Retirement is the sum of your life’s work.” A John Hancock email started out
with “Create a plan for your financial well-being.” An email from TIAA
encouraged me to plan for my retirement to “design the life [I] want.” A local
retirement community’s email said to “Plan ahead. Live well. Stay connected.”
Another such community promised “resort-style living” in a “serene coastal
setting, perfect for active adult living.”
My age and interests have me pegged
as someone ready to stop working, kick back, and enjoy active adult living. This
deluge of information didn’t, however, seem to offer a retirement that brings
glory to God or serve others. Where do I turn to learn about that kind of
retirement? Sadly, churches don’t seem to be addressing those issues. I’ve
certainly not heard any sermons on retirement. Christian literature on the
topic is not much better. My hope is that this book can help Christians looking
to find the proper balance of slowing down as they age while still being active
in Christian service.
OR
By the time we reach our forties
and fifties, retirement begins to play an ever-larger role in our thoughts. We
may fantasize about retirement, maybe because we have grown tired of our work
and can’t wait for something better. We may think about taking the trips we
always wanted to take or finally having the time to do things like read,
garden, or start a new hobby. We may worry about how we are going to have
enough money to retire and enjoy our golden years. Our 401K seems woefully
inadequate and who knows if Social Security will even be around when we need it.
We fret that we will never get to relax and enjoy the retirement we deserve.
Most probably, our dreams and fears
of retirement are all mixed together. So, we plan, we save, we daydream, and we
worry about retirement. Like me, the one thing you probably don’t do is think
what would God want me to do if I didn’t have to worry as much about money and
had more time available. My goal is for this book to help you shift your
thinking about what your retirement can and should be.
REMAINDER
OF INTRO
Retirement is generally thought of
as life after we stop working. The challenge that most people entering
retirement face is understanding what that should look like. That was the case
for me. I started working when I mowed lawns at about 15 years of age, worked
more or less full-time by my senior year in high school (at Dairy Queen and on
furniture delivery trucks), had multiple jobs in college (in the graduate
school admissions office and the computer center), and started my first “real”
job two days after I graduated. I often had “side hustles” (long before that
was a thing) writing and consulting. For over forty years, work was a major
part of my life.
I read books on what God intended
work to be and how I should work as a Christian. Over those many years, I tried
to exemplify what I understood working to the glory of God meant. I don’t claim
I succeeded, but at least I had a fairly good idea how God wanted me to work.
Then, I retired. I had no idea how
He wanted me to retire. Or, if retiring was even something that a Christian
should do.
This book is what I’ve come to
understand a biblical, Christian retirement can be. By no means do I think I
have it all figured out. However, I do believe that the Bible gives good and
adequate instruction in this area of our lives as it does in all others. I’m
hoping that what I’ve learned from studying the Bible, communicating with
people considering retirement or already retired, and my own experiences will
prove beneficial to others. My prayer is that this book can help Christians
approach retirement as they would any other major inflection point in their
lives such as marriage, starting a family, or changing jobs—with a clear
understanding of how God would want them to proceed.
One of the retirement challenges for
Christians is how much secular society has monopolized our understanding of
what it should be. I ran across some quotes from Southern Living magazine that humorously
look at some of our thoughts about retirement. I’ve included a few here:
- "Retirement
is not in my vocabulary. They aren't going to get rid of me that way." -
Betty White
- "You
are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream." - C.S. Lewis
- "The
key to retirement is to find joy in the little things." - Susan Miller
- "Retire
from work, but not from life." - M.K. Soni
- "I
need to retire from retirement." - Sandra Day O'Connor
- "Retirement
is wonderful. It's doing nothing without worrying about getting caught at
it." - Gene Perret[i]
The range of the list of quotes
reflects our feelings and confusion.
Our dreams about retirement tend to
be the same as for non-Christians. We dream of retiring so no one will tell us what
to do. (Obviously, those dreamers aren’t married!) We look forward to sleeping as
late as we want, taking trips we’ve long put off, enjoying our favorite leisure
activities (golf, reading, gardening, or whatever), and having time to spend
with family and friends.
Our fears are also like those of
non-Christians. We worry that we won’t have enough money to actually retire. We’ve
all heard stories of someone who retired and died of a heart attack not long
after. We watch Internet videos claiming that retiring is the most dangerous
day of our lives. The simple answer is that we know God cares for us and we
should not worry. However, those fears are often evidenced by the harsh reality
of retirement.
Sobering statistics show that retiring
increases the probability of being depressed by 40%.[ii] Alcoholism and binge
drinking are increasing among older adults. [Need reference.] Suicide rates are
high and increasing among older Americans.[iii] The average retiree
spends four hours a day watching TV. [iv] While we need to rely on
God to overcome our fears, that doesn’t mean they are not real.
If our dreams, fears, and reality
of retirement should be different than those of non-Christians, what does the
Bible say? Unfortunately, the Bible does not say much directly about
retirement. There is a short reference in Numbers 8:23-26 about Levites
retiring, but that is about it. There are, however, plenty of general biblical principles
that apply to retirement. As we shall see in Chapter 4, the key is that God
does not have a sunset clause that says once you retire, His commandments about
our lives no longer apply.
The church has not done much to
help retirees or those nearing retirement to understand how to apply those
biblical principles in retirement. Many churches have social groups for
retirees (usually labeled as for seniors) but they don’t usually address what
retirement (or aging) should look like. I don’t remember ever hearing a sermon
on retirement. Nor has anyone I asked been able to recall such a sermon. This
book attempts to fill that gap and may even serve as something that churches
can use in meeting the needs of retirees.
To help make clearer what your
retirement should look like, I’ve divided this book into three sections:
understanding the world and the Bible’s perspectives on retirement, creating a
spiritual plan for your retirement, and challenges you may encounter in retirement.
The first six chapters of this book will look how the world views work and
retirement versus what the Bible has to say about those issues. The big
challenge they will confront is that the Bible says little directly about
retirement. The Bible, however, does give us the necessary principles to make
sense of what retirement should look like in the 21st Century.
Chapter
1, “What exactly is retirement?” looks at our wide range of expectations,
hopes, and dreams for what our retirement will be like. It will include what it
means for people retiring in ways that were not common a few decades ago such
as retiring much younger or “semi-retiring” (continuing to work at least part
time). The chapter will help us to all be on the same page about retirement.
The second chapter is on the “Biblical
view of work.” Retirement is usually
defined and widely thought of as the lack of paying work, so it is critical to
understand first the biblical view of work. The Bible has lots to say on this
topic and as you might imagine, its perspective on work is rather different
from the prevailing secular ones.
Once we understand God’s view of
work, the third chapter, “Worldly view of retirement,” begins with a little
history of the development of the concept of retirement over the last 150 years.
It will look at how what was once something that happened for a very limited
percentage of the population has come to be seen as a basic right, something
that should be enjoyed at younger and younger ages even as life expectancy has
risen. For an increasing percentage of the population, the retirement years are
growing from a third to half of their adult lives. Unfortunately, statistics
show that for many people those years are not what they had hoped they would
be.
Chapter 4, “Biblical view of
retirement.” One of the biggest challenges in writing this book is that the
concept of retirement didn’t really exist in biblical times. Numbers 8:23-26 is
the one direct reference which specifically talks about the Levites retiring at
50. It also includes instructions on what Levitical work they could still do,
so it was not what we typically think of as retirement. Part of the reason for
the lack of direct instruction is that retiring was just not possible for the
vast majority of people in a poor, agrarian society. Just like Ma and Pa on the
TV series The Waltons¸ their work had changed as they aged, but they did
not have the opportunity to stop working. The Bible does have plenty so say
about work, service, and personal conduct. Much of that is applicable during
retirement.
The fifth chapter looks at “Leisure:
God’s Gift or Satan’s Snare” and its outsized role in 21st-Century retirement.
Most people see retirement as a time of leisure. A recent, large-scale study of
the US population found that people 65 and older spend on average seven hours a
day in leisure activities. What exactly is leisure? What is God’s view of
leisure? The Bible does not really talk about leisure as we currently think of
it, but it does have a lot to say about rest, particularly Sabbath rest.
Chapter 6 on “Idleness” shows that
though the Bible may not have a lot to say directly about retirement, but it
does have a lot to say about idleness or sloth. There is no sunset clause that
says once you turn 65, idleness is fine. How does biblical idleness compare and
contrast with rest and leisure? This chapter looks at what Proverbs and New
Testament parables have to say about idleness.
The next six chapters examine how
we can create spiritual plans for our retirement years. They will introduce the
concept, explain what to consider in creating one, and finally give an example
of what one might look like.
Chapter 7, “Spiritual plan,” introduces
the concept of a spiritual plan. Most people have a financial plan for their
retirement, even if that is only using some online retirement calculators. Few
Christians have a spiritual plan for their retirement. I know I did not but now
wish I had made one. This chapter will look at what a spiritual plan should
contain and what to consider when thinking of one for yourself.
The eighth chapter is titled “Start
with a sabbatical.” One of the few good pieces of information that I was able
to get from other Christian books on retirement was from Jeff Haanen’s An
Uncommon Guide to Retirement: Finding God’s Purpose for the Next Season of Life.
The title is a good summary of the book, and I recommend you read it. Haanen
recommends starting retirement with a sabbatical of a defined length of time
rather than diving straight into whatever might come next. This chapter expands
on that idea with experiences of my own and others.
Chapter 9, “Time to spare (and
share),” looks at one of the biggest issues of retirement, the amount of time
we have available. The challenge and opportunity are what to do with it. Time is
like closet space. You move into a new bigger house with lots of extra storage
space. Within a year, it is full and you have no idea with what. We all have
experienced taking some time off from work to get some things done and at the
end of that time we are disappointed at how little we accomplished. Stuff, good
and bad, fills the available time. We need to be purposeful about what we spend
our time on. Certainly, some of the time can be spent in leisure. We can share
some of that time with our family and friends. (Arguably, we would have been
well served to have a better balance of such activities in our lives before we
retired!) One area that we tend to overlook is service. We no longer have the
excuse that we would help with some ministry if we had time. For example, I
have been helping with my church youth group for the last year and a half. It
has been a great experience for me and beneficial for the teens.
The tenth chapter is on “Finances”
in retirement. By that I don’t mean saving up money for retirement. There are
already lots of such good resources on the topic, including many secular ones.
However, dealing Biblically with money once you retire is worth examining.
Spending our savings rather than accumulating them is a real shift in our
mindsets. Importantly, what should our giving look like in retirement? I’ve
heard some people say things like since they have already tithed on the money
they saved for retirement, they shouldn’t have to do so again. Or, that in
retirement they no longer can afford to give to the church or charity.
In Chapter 11 we will explore “Writing
your own spiritual plan.” I will use as an example what I wish my own spiritual
plan had been as well as some ideas from other people’s. One key thing to consider
is how to spouses can and should create their plans together or at least in
light of each other’s plans.
The final chapter in this section (Chapter
12) looks at “Changing your plans.” All plans need to change over time. This is
particularly true as we age and what we can do or what to do becomes more
limited. So too will our spiritual plans. Annual updates are a good approach as
well as updates when circumstances change such as illness, death of a spouse,
or financial issues.
The
final three [likely to be five or six] chapters look at some of the challenges
we commonly face in retirement. Some of these are unique to retirement, but
others are just new versions of ones we’ve faced all our lives.
Chapter
13, “Changed identity,” explores how our identity is often tied up in what we
do. People without work lose much of their identity when they retire. My dad
often said that retiring was the worst thing he ever did. I watched him dwindle
away without meaningful work. If you ask the typical person to list five words
to describe themselves, almost all will include what they do. That may be as a
parent raising children, a factory worker, or an executive. For me about ten
years ago, I would have a said (in no particular order) I was an entrepreneur,
Christian, husband/father, technologist, and cyclist. (Yeah, I sort of cheated
by saying husband/father, but family man sounded odd.) Now, I’m no longer an
entrepreneur, I’m more of a grandfather than father, I’m good with technology
though it is not the passion it once was, and I don’t cycle nearly as much as I
used to. Retirement and age have stripped away key parts of my identity. The
key is to use our relationship with God rather than what we do better define
our identities. It’s best to start doing so before we retire.
The fourteenth chapter is titled “Renegotiating
marital roles.” We tend to view retirement as just life without the hassle of a
job. So, rather than going to work five (or more days a week), we are free to
do whatever we want with that time. Especially in the case of a couple where
one of the spouses did not have full-time employment, that spouse typically
dealt with running the house including making meals and such. What does
retirement look like for that spouse? Does that spouse continue doing all of
that work around the house while the retired spouse enjoys a life of leisure?
Roles need to be re-examined when one spouse retires. What biblical principles
should we apply in those circumstances? Put another way, if the husband retires
does he get to just hang out around the city gate while the wife continues to
be the ideal Proverbs 31 wife?
Chapter 15, “When spouses retire at
different times,” is related to the previous chapter, but probably worth its
own chapter. This one looks at how to deal with one working spouse retiring earlier
than the other. This may be due to age differences, circumstances such as involuntary
retirement via a layoff, or different desires about continuing to work. How
should roles and responsibilities reflect the reality of one half of the couple
being retired while the other still works? Yes, you know can sleep late, but is
that a good idea if your spouse needs to get up early to work?
[I think there will be a few more
chapters that will come from input from others and gaps I see as I get further
into the writing. Here are a few other chapters that I may end up including:
managing time when we have so much of it, health in retirement (and as we age),
changing roles, and additional resources (probably an appendix).]
The good news about retirement for
Christians is that it can be one of the fulfilling and God-centric chapters of
our lives. My hope and prayer is that this book can play a part in making that
true for those who read it.
