As anti aging as I am, I will begrudgingly admit that I have recently had the opportunity to watch someone who aged gracefully, lead beautifully, and retired again not in defeat or weakness, but with a sense of satisfaction and completion. A year ago we were told we would have the leadership of a retired bishop for a one year interim until the next election. There were opinions from the cheap seats in abundance. This would be a lame duck year, nothing would be accomplished. It would be one of the retired bishop that currently reside in our Conference and it would be awful. It would be a wasted year. HA!
One thing about the cheap seats, once their predictions are proven wrong, they are quick to disassociate themselves from all the others. Who ever those others are. Our retired bishop rode into town with all of the wisdom a long tenure in ministry ought to have conveyed. We went from lame duck to visionary leader, and in just a few months change was already happening. There were changes in leadership, vision, and purpose. There was a quiet authority that listened well, decided firmly. In one short year direction was begun that can be built upon for a hope and a future. All this from a retired guy.
A retired guy is still adding to the foundations for those who will follow. In ten years from now we may not remember that this retired guy opened the door for health and vitality. Who knows where we will be in twenty years, but if we are growing and making disciples and actively furthering the Kingdom of God, this guy will have been the catalyst that helped that happen.
Legacy is a concept that has been overdone by the financial folks who want me to save all money for the next generation, when clearly the next generation should just go out and earn their own. But legacy is not a gimmick, it is a means of grace for every single generation that follows. As I type today I know I do so because there are women and men that have gone before me. Good, bad, and the messy mix of both have helped to form and shape the way I think, the opportunities I have, my understanding of God, my understanding of worth, my perceptions of the world. People I know, people I have only read about, people who influenced people who influenced me. Legacy is the gift of aging, the mantle a means of grace.
So, I am going to have to make room for that in my vision of life. I may have to allow a few more year to pass under the anniversary radar to embrace that even I have the opportunity to contribute to the legacy for generations who will never even know I lived. This is the power of the pond, ripples that move out from places no one remembers, and still impact life in the pool. They don't happen when we are attempting to freeze time and miss the opportunity to make a splash.
What an awesome opportunity! How could I miss this gift?! Easily, who wants to be old? Not me, that's for sure! I can joyfully embrace the blessing of being a blessing though, of God using me in some small, perhaps comic way, to share His love with the world. I think that would make the wrinkles worthwhile. But not the grey hair....good thing we can fix that.
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