I cringed as the frail 80-year-old man pushed a string of shopping carts across a frozen parking lot. I waited for an inevitable collision with a Lexus or a Mercedes as the octogenarian stumbled behind his train.
The expected crash did not come. Instead, the television announcer’s voiceover urged the right financial investments.
The god-like voice pronounced doom: “…Before it’s too late!”
I had to restrain the impulse to grab my phone and call the toll free number on the screen, where promised operators were standing by. I imagined ranks of well-dressed representatives, headsets at the ready, plastic smiles in place, ready to explain to me the folly of waiting so long to buy the… whatever it was they were selling.
Don’t be THAT guy!
If the TV commercial was trying to stir me to action, it nearly succeeded. Nobody can see the image of that helpless old man trying to manage the shopping carts during his 8-hour shift without feeling compassion.
And without thinking: “I do NOT want to be that guy!”
The message was, of course, that the cart-boy had fumbled his way through his youth, his health, and his cash reserves, failing to invest for his retirement.
Now he would be consigned to pushing a never-ending row of reluctant shopping carts across an asphalt parking lot, against the wind, until his ultimate, penniless, lonely demise.
Sisyphus has got nothing on this guy.
(Okay… that’s a character from Greek mythology. Don’t worry about it. The point was that Sisyphus had been sentenced to push a rock up a hill for eternity. Apparently he got one of the super gods mad at him. I don’t remember why. I don’t think I ever got that far in the college book before I lost interest.)
“Stress-free” creates stress
Most of us yearn for the day when we can kiss the office, or the factory, or the service truck goodbye. I put in my time, I paid off the house, I have a little cash put by; now I am going to…
What, exactly?
There are favorite expectations: Travel, exercise, grandkids, golf, hobbies, boats, classic cars. Brunch with the girls; biking with the guys.
There is nothing wrong with any of those. I have done a lot of them myself. (Except golf. Don’t make me, please.)
At the end of the day, however, there are many of us who approach retirement with a nagging suspicion of irrelevance. The urge is strong to believe that nobody really cares whether I continue, or pass silently in the night.
This may explain why suicide rates are at an all-time high for those above the age of 55.
Suicide rates are 5 times higher for senior men than for women. Suicides among those of retirement age have increased 25% in the last two decades. (U.S. statistics from Centers for Disease Control.)
For many, something is broken in the golden years.
We could do with a dose of the prophet Jeremiah’s wisdom here. He relates God’s promise: “I have plans for you; a future and a hope.”
What might be the elements of such a future?
And what might fuel such a hope?
Balance for joy!
Four common themes emerge among the mature demographic: Health, wealth, family, legacy. Different words are used, but everyone seems to be focused on one or more of these areas.
Steal the joy from any one of those, and no amount of pleasure from the others will make it up.
Life is all about balance. It is a horribly self-conscious concept, but we all live with it. Balance is part of our DNA.
Imagine the emotion when your health is in superb shape, you are surrounded by loving family, your sterling reputation will live far beyond you... and you are forced to ask for help with your heating bill to keep the pipes from freezing.
Like pain in the body, when one thing causes grief, none of the joy brought by the others seems to matter.
“Where no man has gone before—” Except, they have
A clever student of Old Testament Bible history can attest that many of the “good” people highlighted in that historical record did not end so well.
In fact, I would assert that of all those who started well and failed morally, their failures occurred during the last quarter of their lives.
Do not miss the fact that in the names that follow, every man began his life’s work in a strong, admirable way.
From my reading, here are some of those kings from ancient Bible times, and the ages at which they fell into moral error:
David: age 57 (died at 70)
Asa: age 60 (died at 66)
Jehoshaphat: age 55 (died at 60)
Joash: age 47 (died at 47)
Amaziah: age 54 (died at 54)
Uzziah: age 68 (died at 68)
Hezekiah: age 54 (died at 54)
I am not exactly a thorough Bible scholar. You would be will advised to check it for yourself. These dates (some are educated guesses) can be gleaned by a simple reading of the text.
These things are not secrets. They are just not well known.
If you want to check the data, go to a site like biblehub.com and use the search bar to find the name. Browse a couple of chapters.
Do you suppose these stories might have been placed there for a reason?
The end of a matter is better than its beginning… Ecclesiastes 7.8
Two-minute warning
We will all do well to be intentional as we move toward the last lap. The last quarter of the game is when our wisdom, leadership, compassion and example are most needed and most effective.
It is also, for some reason, the period when we are most susceptible to false steps that give away the victory.
And I should say here that each of us has failed in some respect. There was only One holy, and we could argue that He had a leg up on the rest of us. Broken things trail along behind each of us, like an old wind-powered sailing ship dragging seaweed behind.
The future and the hope are still promised, because God is faithful, whether we have been or not.
In the mercy of God, even those things we have broken, or that have been broken by another, can yet bring Him glory as we place them on the altar before Him.
Pushing a row of shopping carts to make the rent payment is not the worst outcome of one’s life. But on the other hand, it is not particularly pleasant. Give proper attention to each: Health, wealth, family, legacy.
Finish strong! And be on your guard!
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Maturity, Wisdom, and Shopping Cart Wars