Tag: Decisions

Reflecting on My Retirement Decision

Everyone faces decisions on a daily basis. This is just a summary of how I recently arrived at a major decision in my life.

Most of you who follow or read my blog know me personally, so you know that I just recently announced my retirement. I’m hoping that decision gives me more time to write and the ability to be a little more real. There are topics that I think about putting in writing, but hold off because of how it might be wrongly translated at work.

I wanted to start by writing a little bit about how I came to the decision to go ahead and retire. It started with a comment from a couple of people about what retirement might look like for me. Then I read the book, From Strength to Strength, by Arthur Brooks. Next my son made a statement that really caused me to reflect on some whys in my life. I can’t list everything that happened in the last few months, but everywhere I turned, something was pointing me into the direction of retirement.

Changing topics for just a bit. I changed up my daily prayer routine about 8 months ago. Over the years, I’ve kept prayer journals, prayer lists, prayer cards. Whatever feels right at the time. A while back I decided that in addition to my daily prayer list pertaining to whatever is on my mind, I would make a monthly prayer list. This list would never have more than 5 needs on it, and I would deeply pray purposely for those 5 needs each and every day for a month. I also attach a scripture to each need and pray that scripture over the need as well for the entire month. There is no biblical reason for this method. It is just a combination of things I have read and something that was on my heart to do.

Back to my decision about retirement, for the month of December, I have been praying Isaiah 43:16, “Thus says the Lord who makes a way through the sea and a path through the mighty waters.” I have been praying this pertaining to the continuous promptings towards retirement. I have prayed that the Lord would show me what he desired as clearly as he made a way through the sea. I asked for direction that was so clear I could follow it and a path so wide that I would know where to step and where to go next.

The purpose of Isaiah 43:16 is to encourage the Israelites, remind them how powerful God is, and assure them he can deliver them as they were under the rule of Babylon at the time it was written. For me this verse assured me that God provides for our needs. My current need was reassurance that I was following what he desires for my life. I have always felt that teaching was my calling. I want to make sure my retirement keeps me on the path that God has for me. A path where I honor him and serve him. A path where I can be used for his purpose.

I don’t’ know what you are going through, what decisions you are trying to make or what waters you are navigating, but if you ask, God will show you the path or he will provide the deliverance you need. Commit to following his will, and his desires will be made known to you.

Save Me from Myself

Sometimes I just need to stop and think.

phoneLast Tuesday was just one of those days.  It started out in typical fashion.  I was headed to work, thinking through my day when I noticed the display panel on my car read “no phone connected.”  At the same time, I saw the perfect place to turn around.  With breaks squealing, I whirled my car around and headed back home.  I called Scott on my watch and began telling him all the places to start looking for my phone.  The whole time I was giving him directions, I distinctly remembered putting my phone in my purse before I left.  As Scott looked in all my usual phone forgetting spots, I then and only then thought to look in my purse.  I was almost back to the house by now when what do you know?  I had my phone with me the whole time.  If I would have only stopped to think before I reacted and whipped my car around, I could have saved myself 15-20 minutes that morning.

While my day was uneventful, I had one task to accomplish Tuesday night.  Print our LetterChristmas letters and stuff them in the envelopes.  There is a little more involved than it sounds.  You have to adjust the print to match the outline of the stationery.   As I thought I had everything lined up perfectly, I noticed one line began with “I went to Denver.”  I couldn’t imagine why I would have typed such a statement.  I did’t go to Denver by myself.  I quickly, without thinking or reading the statement in context, changed the I to We and printed 87 copies of our Christmas letter.  As I was stuffing envelopes, Scott picked up the letter and began reading it.  He got a puzzled look on his face and read out loud.  “Scott and we went to Denver???”  See, the words Scott and were on the line above and I didn’t notice them. The sentence originally read Scott and I went to Denver, but I changed the I to we.  I now faced the decision of whether to send out the letter with the terribly ugly mistake or head off to Hobby Lobby.  Well, we ended up going to three Hobby Lobby’s that night to find enough of the right stationery that matched the cards.  Again, if I would have taken only a brief second to read the entire sentence before I hastily made the change, I could have saved myself a couple of hours of grief.

I just want to say for the record there are an equal number of times when I amaze myself with really wise decisions.  These times I give credit to God, but it is proof I am not a complete idiot 100% of the time.  However, when those embarrassing decisions are made, I just want to scream because the mistake could have so easily been prevented if I would have just stopped for 2-3 seconds to think.  Now the examples I have written about tonight have been with little consequences, but this isn’t always the case.  If we don’t stop and think, pray or seek Godly counsel, we can easily do the same thing with bigger, life changing decisions.

Take Esau for example, he was convinced he was going to starve so what was it going to hurt if he gave away his birthright.  Do you think he really thought that decision through?  Sometimes we are so blinded by our problem, we can’t think clearly. We let the problem be so big, we don’t look for the best solution.  We just look for the quickest solution.   In Genesis 12 Abram was fleeing a famine.  As they entered Egypt, he became concerned that he would be killed because his wife Sarai was so beautiful.  With the fear of death staring him in the face, he makes a horrible decision.  He asks Sarai to lie and say she is his sister.  You know the rest of the story.  Since Pharaoh thinks she is single, he takes her into his house. Really, you are going to ask your wife to lie so you won’t be killed.  Again, fear was guiding the decision.  Not trust or faith.

I was so mad when I thought I left my phone at home, I just whipped my car around and headed back.  Esau was so hungry, he wasn’t thinking past getting the immediate need of hunger met.  Abram was so scared, he put both of their lives in danger.  All of these situations had other options.  I just needed to look in my purse.  Esau could have fixed his own meal.  Abram forgot honesty is always the best policy.

At this time of year, There are plenty of problems and fears to go around.  It could be the desire to buy that perfect Christmas gift that causes us to spend more than we have or the length of the Holiday to do list that influences us to skip our devotion or take short-cuts at work.  Maybe you have desired to be accepted by others to the point that you sacrificed your principles or just as Abram in the face of fear, dishonesty seemed much easier than the truth.

I pray each day that not only will I represent Christ in everything I do, but that I will make wise decisions that keep me in His will.  I need Jesus to save me from myself because my decisions are dangerous.