My Mother lived for nearly 94 years. One day around her 90th
year she said something like, "If I had known I would live this long, I
would have fixed the dishwasher." It had quit doing something or other
several years earlier, and there it sat quietly biding time. She thought it
foolish to repair her dishwasher in her mid 80's. After all, both of her
parents had died in their upper 40's, and she had nearly doubled that. So why
waste the money. Ha! We bought her a new dishwasher that year.
Have you stopped repairing things in your life? What have
you become "too old to do?" What have you quit doing because
discouragement has set in? We do often develop physical or mental conditions
that limit or slow down our abilities. I notice heavier breathing when I go up
the stairs, and arthritis has found joints I didn't know I had. And sometimes I
feel a little put off by it. Perhaps we can no longer jog, but we can walk. Or
if the knees hurt too badly to walk, we can swim.
Last week I turned sixty five. I am surprised that sixty
five doesn't seem as old as I once saw it. But it is a milestone for many of
us. It is a time to assess who we are and what we intend to do with our lives
now that we have reached what our nation has established as the
"retirement age". But statisticians
tell us that a 65 year old male in America today can expect to live at
least another 18.4 years. A female gets a bonus. The average 65-year-old woman
today can expect to live another 19.8 years or a total of 84.8 years. If she
makes it to 75, she can expect an additional 12.6 years or a total of 87.6
years. Men don't do quite as well, but the difference shrinks as they age. A
75-year-old man can expect, on average, another 10.5 years or 85.5 years total.
Remember, these are averages -- you can beat them by eating right, staying
active, staying involved and exercising your brain. Develop the mindset that
you will always repair the dishwasher.
This Christian believes that each of us was put here with a purpose.
Some of us were trapped in jobs for decades that hardly reflected our talents
or true abilities. Retirement may well be a time to discover, or rediscover
talents that have long lain dormant. Without the unique demands of children and
jobs, it may be time to investigate hobbies, service, computers, new education,
or even a whole new career. Check out Missions for Retired and Second Career
Christians. Think back to the things you
wish you could have done. Now may be the day to begin them. Or perhaps you want
to hone your skills in your former profession, and then go at with a slightly
different focus.
At age 82, Joe Paterno is coaching his 59th season at Penn
State as an assistant or head coach, holding the record for any football coach
at any university. He has coached over 500 games. He regularly fixes the
dishwasher, and continues to develop character in the young men he mentors.
My neighbor is in her mid 80's, and a retired high school
math teacher. Her answer to all questions of health are "I have no
complaints." Last year Dolores lost her beloved poodle of 16 years. She
immediately got another. When she isn't going to the senior center for tai chi,
she is having lunch with a circle of women friends. Occasionally she slips out
to nursing homes to help less ambulatory friends with simple needs. She has
been known to help some of them with filling out income tax forms. When our
granddaughter came to live with us this summer, Dolores introduced her to the
public library, and counseled with her about books and school. No broken
dishwashers in that house.
If you have developed a faith in God along the way, or if
you would like to, then ask God what you need to be doing. And ask friends, and
ask family, and even ask your former boss if you had one. And get into your
computer and poke around. Go to photography sites, service sites, sites for
your faith. Think of the things "you wish somebody would do", and
then give it a shot. Know it or not, you have become a wise man or woman
through experience. There is much you can do, and now have the time to do it.
You are too valuable a child of God to sit around idly like
the broken dishwasher. Go for it!
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