(This devotion really is for people who aren’t retired yet.)
As I got closer to retirement, occasionally a retiree would come back to visit the old salt mine, so to speak. I always asked the same question, “What are you doing with all your free time?”
The answer I would get was never satisfying to me. It would go something like this: “Oh, I’m so busy! I don’t know how I ever got anything done before I retired.”
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.” - Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ESV
Now that I’ve been retired for several years, I can say I would answer that question in a similar manner. The retirees I questioned were absolutely correct. However, there is more to the story.
One of the first things I did when I retired was commit to having quiet time in the evenings. I would say most of my days end around 4:30 p.m. or so. I have evening activities, but I selectively pick them so I can rest and go to bed at an appropriate time. When I was working, I constantly felt the need to get things done after my workday. The restful evening was a rarity. Now, the busy evening is a rarity.
Because of this “commitment,” I force a lot of chores, errands and other activities into my day. However, I don’t feel compelled to be up and ready to go by 6:00 a.m. like I did when I worked. I enjoy my early mornings, which also compresses the amount of time I have during the day to get all my activities done.
I have also gone through retirement stages. In the first stage, I resolved to take care of all those activities I couldn’t when I worked. This is commonly called the “honey-do” list. It didn’t matter if they were things I wanted to do or my wife wanted me to do.
That stage was relatively short (how much enjoyment can you get from cutting trees out of the fence line?), then morphed into me looking for an activity I could throw myself into and make mine. At first, this was simple (and my wife loved it); I decided to take over a lot of household activities, such as cleaning the house, cooking, etc.
This phase didn’t last long either. How much satisfaction can you get from dusting when you don’t like to dust? I then started to look for a new activity to throw myself into. Some people choose golf or boating or whatever. I chose something my left brain wasn’t used to.
That’s where I’m at now. I don’t know how I got everything done before I retired.
