A reflection by Danny Schweers for August 6, 2023.
I am sharp witted in the morning and slow thinking in the afternoon.
Right now, as I write this reflection in the evening, my mind can only plod along, writing down a word and wondering what the next one will be. There are times when my thoughts follow one another so fast I can barely begin to contemplate the ramifications of one thought before another takes center stage. This is not one of those times.
My wife is in the easy chair next to mine. She flips through a book of Haiku poetry, then a catalog from Lands End. She checks her text messages. She’s entitled to relax, I suppose, because she had an exhausting horseback-riding lesson earlier. Me? The Chris White Gallery has a summer intern. I worked four hours with him this morning and then, at 2pm, chaired a fruitful meeting between two non-profit corporations and two for-profit corporations. That was a first for me and mentally exhausting. So much responsibility! I am entitled to relax now, I suppose, but I have this reflection to write.
It may be that my wife and I are entitled to relax now, not just because we worked earlier in the day but because we are retired. Our careers are over. Just as each of us is full of energy in the morning, slower in the afternoon, and relax in the evening, so too are we full of energy in the first decades of our lives, slower in the following decades, and entitled to relax at the end.
Are we entitled to relax?
Perhaps you are familiar with Luke 17:7–10. Jesus says:
“Will any one of you, who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep, say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and gird yourself and serve me, till I eat and drink; and afterward you shall eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that is commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”
I read this and think, “Yes, I have retired but now, having come in from the field of endeavor, I still need to serve the Lord. Others may be entitled to relax. Others may deserve a rest. But, as I hope to serve the Lord, I continue to work, late in life, and late some evenings.”
That sounds honorable, doesn’t it? Actually, the evenings I work are few, so please do not think I am especially noble. And I will not begin to comment on the quality of my work. But I do continue to volunteer nearly every day, as do many of my peers, even though we are in our seventies, even though we work slowly, even though others could do a better job. Slow or fast, we hope to serve the Lord. Don’t thank us. Pray for us. Better yet, take our place!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Danny Nelson Schweers chairs SsAM’s Communication Committee. He is an active photographer and writer. Click here to visit his website and make a comment.
