Bread Crumbs 1

He’d grown up “going to church.” Many understand the nuances of that statement. And so, before he committed to non-employment, he wanted to know what the Bible said about retirement. Some folks made silly jokes about retiring. But most people he'd talked with encouraged him to take the plunge. Still, he felt guilty about not consulting God first.

As far as he could determine from reading the Bible, there was no mention of the word "retire." He discovered that "the church” had no official position on the matter. So, he set out to search for the answer straight from God.

Perhaps he shouldn’t retire. “Maybe God wouldn’t approve,” he muttered to himself.

But it was taking longer for him to recover his energy from working all week now. People he worked with were beginning to talk. He was forgetful and found it harder to focus at his age. And his lack of youthful look and vitality embarrassed him. He rationalized that it happens to us all, eventually.

He needed Wisdom. After all, Solomon wrote, “There is a time for everything,” right? Why not a time to be hired and a time to retire?

As he read further in the books of Solomon, he discovered occasional comments about “our jobs”—that they are gifts from God, and we should do our best at them, enjoy them, and be thankful for them.

So, once again, he was confused, discouraged, and concerned.

Finally, one night in a dream, a whispering voice suggested he look at work in a broader sense. His “job,” his “work,” was to “Do everything I have commanded you,” and that he should search for those instructions in the Bible. He decided to write down every command Jesus gave and work at living the rest of his days in that kind of labor: the labor of Love. He reasoned it would be the most joyful and rewarding job partnership he would have ever imagined!

When he awoke, he wondered what the dream could be all about. It seemed so real. He’d never heard anything quite like that.

It happened that very day was a Sunday, and he walked into worship with a bit more spring in his step as the dream kept spinning around in his head. Much to his surprise, what do you suppose the minister spoke about that morning? Yes!

And as he exited the building, filled with gladness at what he had heard, he suddenly recalled other words of Solomon he had read just before he went to bed on Saturday night.

“Be alert when you enter God’s house.

ENTER TO LEARN.

That’s far better than mindlessly going through the motions,

thus doing more harm than good.”

He was glad he'd come to learn and even happier that God had spoken the truth to him. And it was wonderful to at last have a burden lifted that way. And there was great rejoicing.

The end.

Copyright 2023, Gary Landerfelt, MyPericope.com