Afternoon Everyone!
So today is the day Jim is retiring! As I write this I am waiting for him to get home. I’m guessing they gave him a party. I can imagine him laughing and loving being the center of attention! He turned in the “state truck” this morning, so his boss is driving him here from Montgomery. It is a good day. We are going to have salmon for supper then walk up to the jazz concert in town. I don’t know if he has seen it or not, but someone put a “Happy Retirement” sign on our front porch either last night or this morning. That was nice. It may have been our next door neighbor. Or maybe not. So thank you if it was you!
Tomorrow will come. And we will begin this new segment of our lives together. We are not sure what it will bring. A little less money to spend. A little more time together. A little more attention paid on those things that need to be taken care of when one gets “to this stage of life.” Plans, you know. Talks with the kids.
We can think about those tomorrow. But for today, I am just grateful. Grateful that both Jim and I have had the opportunity use the gifts that God has given us. Not perfectly. But faithfully, I hope. Grateful that we have known the feeling of satisfaction that a good day’s work can bring. That’s true for us all, isn’t it? It is a wonderful day when we realize we God has created each of us, and we were not created to do it all. We were not created to fix it all. We were not created to be perfect and never make mistakes (how boring we would be!!) But we were created to be completely ourselves. To do our thing!!!!
So, let us all just be exactly who we are. Let us pray for one another. For simple things. For a good day’s work. For a good night’s sleep. For the love of friends. For the presence of Christ in our lives. Things won’t be perfect. That’s not at all what we were promised. But things will be filled with the blessed assurance that we don’t walk alone.
Love you all! I am looking so forward to our covered dish after church on Sunday! The sermon is all wrapped up in the story of a father who loved his two sons so very much – the one who disappointed him and left home AND the one who remained home and did everything right except learning how to forgive.
See you Sunday!!!
Blessings,
Rev. Martha