I recently read somewhere that the first person in recent history that will live to be 200 years old, has been born. That is amazing, don't you think? We are living longer and longer.
It does create some challenges as we need more money for retirement. Not just because of rising costs but because we have more years in which to spend our retirement funds. What do we do when our money runs out and we are too old to go job hunting?
Over the years I have encountered many retired people wrestling with this fear. When you stop earning money you have a finite amount of money and an undetermined number of years to use it in. How do you budget?
In earlier years, budgeting is the simplest of things that just about nobody gets right. You simply spend less than what you are earning. You either do it preemptively and stay in control. Or you do it later, under duress and somebody else then controls you. You end up working for money that already belongs to someone else. The greatest evil of our time is not drugs or wars or foods that cause cancer, as evil as they are. The greatest evil of our time is short-term credit!
Spend less than you earn and live free!
As challenging as budgeting might be (even though simple), there is something that you should be wrestling with more than you wrestle with your budget.
Time is impossible to budget! Simply because we do not know how much time we have!
Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Today is all you have and what you do with today, that is your life. Not what you used to do, nor what you are planning to do.
I think you should be HIGHLY intentional in how you live!
When your money runs out, you can stop spending. However, you cannot stop spending time. It runs without a pause, day after day.
You can only decide WHAT you spend your time on.
Are you making good decisions in this regard? Are you being intentional?
After many years of pastoral ministry, there are two things I would like to bring to your attention that will help you make good choices in how you spend your time and in due course, your life.
The harsh reality is that once an hour or a day or a year or a life is spent, it is spent. There are no refunds. No rehearsals. When it is done, it is done...
These two things may not be relevant to your thinking if you are not of the Christian faith. However, I will find your response very interesting if you are not of my faith. Please feel free and welcome to respond.
I discovered these two things on many journeys with people. In many conversations with individuals in their last moments. In years of ministry to students dreaming about great lives and significant accomplishments. In witnessing the choices people make at important crossroads in their lives. And I discovered them in the words and story of Paul, one of my heroes, who wrote most of the New Testament of the Bible.
Do you want to know what these two things are?
I hope so, but I'm not telling you today.😁
I will tell you over the next two days and hope you will contribute to the conversation. You may disagree or agree. Mostly, I'm hoping you will share your own insight that may be very different from mine.
Thank you for joining me on this journey as I share with you two of the most significant insights from my life's journey.
