Today is the First Day of the Rest of My Life

 

This catchphrase has never been more true for me than it is today. 

41 years after being hired by Carol Clark to unload trucks and manage the storeroom at Columbia Regional Hospital, I find myself without a job. For the first time in over four decades, I woke up this morning and it wasn't a weekend, it wasn't a vacation day or sick day or personal day, but I didn't have to go to work.

When you've followed the habit of the 40-hour week/8-hour day for several decades, the routine can get to be a drag. It was kind of nice this morning to get up early, go to the pool at the gym, and spend nearly an hour and a half working out, never wondering what time it was getting to be.

It sounds, I know, like the description of someone on his first day of retirement. That might happen for me in four months or two years or five years, but that's not why I'm unemployed.

I got laid off from my job. Thanks to COVID-19, my career ended short of qualifying for full pension benefits. I'm getting paid my full salary through the end of 2020, which relieves some urgency. Nevertheless, I find myself job-seeking for the first time since April 1979.

For today, though, I just want to enjoy the freedom and contemplate what to do with the unscheduled and non-routine days ahead.

 Not focused on yesterday

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14

For the past four decades my primary focus has not been on my job. I've never been a company man or a career climber. There have been a few times I'm sure my bosses have wished I would be more dedicated to the job.  But it was never true.

Sure, I cared about my job. During the past two weeks that they kept me around to finish out my time, I was surprised to discover how much I do care about both the minutiae and the big picture of my job.

But I've always had two motivations for working. One of those was to support my family. The other was to have the freedom to do whatever God had in store for me.

As a follower of Christ, my real career has always been to follow him, leaning hard into whatever tasks and purposes he put before me. That has meant teaching, preaching, counseling, small group leading, worship leading, mentoring, servant leadership, subversive following, foster parenting, home schooling, writing, campus ministry, prison ministry, and church ministry.  And also going to work every day, whether at the office or in my rideshare car, always staying attuned to divine appointments to share the world's God-colors and God-flavors with the people I've encountered.

Sometimes I've done a poor job of pursuing that career. Some of my co-workers who have known me best are the ones who know that best.

But as I begin the rest of my life today, no matter what it winds up looking like from a job perspective, I can't help but wonder what the Lord has in store for me next.

The goal to win the prize that Paul says he's pressing on toward in that verse from Philippians is not heaven. Yes, God is calling Paul - and me, and you - heavenward. But the goal and the prize are the things he mentioned in the previous verses. 

3:8  the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord 

3:9   and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ 

3:10   I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death

That's the goal. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow, I want to know Christ and to become more like him.

Seize Today

So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12

The chief portion of wisdom I've learned about numbering my days is that every day is number 1. If yesterday I made a mess of representing Christ to my world, today is Day #1 of starting again. If I did a great job of knowing Christ yesterday, I can't settle in and count on yesterday's success. Today is still the first day.

My routine for today is all shot, at least in terms of my job of 41 years.

My routine for Day #1, though, is clear. 

• Dedicate today to the Lord. Exodus 32:29
• Deny myself today, take up my cross, and follow Jesus. Luke 9:23
• Keep my ear tuned for whatever God wants to teach me today. Proverbs 8:34
• Eagerly study the scriptures today. Acts 17:11
• Look for opportunities to encourage whoever God puts into my path today. Hebrews 3:13

I just did that last one by inviting you to join me in intentionally making today the first day of the rest of your life, pursuing the only goal that lasts.

In the day of prosperity be happy, But in the day of adversity consider— God has made the one as well as the other. Ecclesiastes 7:14