Retirement – what will I do?

I’ve discussed the need to clarify my dreams for retirement.  I’ve said that there are some retirement dreams that I cannot fulfill with any amount of money, and so I’d best not try.  There are other dreams I have for retirement that I can experience now, and if I can do that, I should.  After all, I might not even live until I retire, or I might be in such bad health when I do that I can’t pursue my dreams.

So what dreams do I have for retirement? 

1. Are they something completely new that I can’t do at all now? 

2. Or will I be more completely devoting myself to a dream I’m living now, since I will no longer have the restriction of trading my time for money?

For the first, Rachel and I would love to spend some months living on a house boat while cruising the Intercoastal Waterway that runs along the Atlantic coast from Texas to New Jersey.

For the second, I can mentor young men now, teaching them about bushcraft, firemaking, fixing things, weaponry, and being a man.  But without the need for full time employment, I could devote more time and attention to this dream.

In the next retirement post, I’ll talk about the safety net called Social Security, and whether I think it will fall apart before I retire.  And if it does, what in the world will we all do?

My dreams

So if there are two different kinds of dreams, the earth dreams and the Heaven dreams, then what are my earthly dreams?  Well, it’s personal.  Not really material for a blog.  I mean, these dreams are what make me tick, the ones that keep coming up over multiple years.  Sometimes they disappear, only to resurface months later.  Music, art, poetry, and sleeping dreams awake them. 

Yeah…  Too personal for a blog.

But if I’m trying to be authentic, vulnerable, and real, then why not?  Maybe you’ll think my dreams petty, or immoral, or selfish, or the worst…  Not true.

What if you read my list, chuckle to yourself, and say, “Yeah right.  Who in their right mind would dream of that?  He just made that up for this post.”

What if I bare my heart, strip naked my soul’s deep desires, and you write me off? 

I was going to do it, but now that I wrote that, I don’t think I will.  Oh!  Maybe I should.

I feel like a kid on the high dive, arguing with himself about why he shouldn’t jump.

OK, here goes.  CANNONBALL!!!

 

Written by Cameron Denny 11-3-11

Six Dreams

 

1. To have an incredible marriage.

2. To equip my children to excel in life.

3. To mentor boys.

4. To have a band of brothers.

5. To enjoy experiencing real life, and reduce the amount of processed, plastic, temperature-controlled, microwavable, instant, urbanized stimuli in my environment.

6. To be a significant financial contributor into other people’s physical and spiritual needs.

 

1. I want to live my life in love with my wife; to play the roles in the Grand Affair of pursuer and pursued; to live as the warrior wooing and winning the princess; to fight and bleed for her; to laugh and cry and make love with her; to daily experience the exciting, peaceful joy of walking hand-in-hand with her through life.

2. I want to train and teach my children to not only survive in this fallen, merciless world, but to excel; to show them the wonder and beauty of nature; to train them in the skills that they will need to provide shelter, food, and clothing for themselves and their families; to ignite their imaginations to think outside the box of the cultural norms; to nurture their hearts towards the only One who can satisfy them; to encourage them to live free, unfettered, smiling, purposeful lives in the midst of a darkening sky.

3. I want to teach boys to be men; to instill confidence in them by guiding them through trials to victory; by teaching them what a “man” is; to show them the skills that they will need to provide for and protect their future families; to awaken their deep hearts and show them that masculinity is very dangerous and very good; to reveal to them why they want a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue.

4. I want to have a close relationship with a group of men; men who have relationship with the true Warrior, whose hearts are towards their families, and whose visions are clear and true and noble; to live in masculine fellowship with them; to partner with them to offer our strength to protect the weak and innocent; to have warriors by my side to battle the enemy; to be a band of brothers that others can feel the weight and their being, and have to deal with it.

5. I believe that our society has lost touch with real life by trying to over-control their environment. I want to feel the temperature outside; to learn to enjoy waiting for things to happen instead of always seeking instant gratification; to accept silence instead of seeking distraction; to appreciate my food and shelter by playing a more active role in their creation; to better avoid the temptation to create my “Heaven” here on earth by relaxing into the truth that this place is not my home. I want my lifestyle to reflect that I am longing for another place, an eternal place.

6. I want to have the financial resources available to offer those in need around me; It could be in the form or money, food, transportation, tools, or any other valuable. I want to be generous with my possessions, not being obsessed with protecting my assets; I want to surprise the needy with a spontaneous physical gift in a crucial moment in time.

Two kinds of dreams

In order to answer the question about my retirement dreams, I first need to consider something vital. 

I can’t create Heaven for myself.  No matter how hard I try, no matter how much money I have, no matter how much insurance I build into my financial plans, I can’t do it.  My heart yearns for perfection for all eternity.  No vacation end, no thoughts of “well that wasn’t quite as fun as I thought if would be”, no mediocrity. 

Ever.

It can’t be done in this lifetime.  I’m only 27 yrs. old, but even with all the years I hope I have left, if I try to create Heaven here on earth, I will end my life bitterly disappointed.

For instance, I would love to travel to exotic places and see amazing things.  However, I know that what my heart really wants is unachievable.  If I had enough money to spend my retirement days traveling all over the world, it would be great.

But not great enough.

I want to travel without smog, uncomfortable airplane seats, and traffic.  I don’t want to see poverty, greed, or despair in people’s eyes when I travel to their land.  I don’t want to see trash or entropy in the landscapes and cities I visit. 

I want to see Earth after Jesus restores it.  That’s when I want to travel.

So if world travel in this lifetime would leave me disappointed, I shouldn’t expect that dream to be fulfilled in my retirement plans.  I just have to put it on the shelf for later.

If Heaven is only an eternal church service, or cherubs on clouds, or wispy spirituality that can’t be imagined, then saving dreams for Heaven makes no sense. 

But (this thought gives me chills), if Heaven is where we experience everything our redeemed hearts have ever deeply longed for, then my dream could really come true.

So as I begin to dream about retirement, I first need to determine whether each dream could be truly fulfilled in this life, or whether it needs to wait until Heaven.

I owe this realization to The Journey of Desire by John Eldredge.  It is on my list of the top five most influential books in my life.