Wednesday, September 1, 2010

In His Own Words

A little while back, I asked my dad if he wanted to write something for my blog, some reflections about his retirement, or whatever was on his mind.  He agreed, so without further ado, here are his words:

In my retirement, I am at another crossroad of life's journey.  After 41 years practicing medicine in the same office, it will be different.  This past Sunday our pastor preached on Jeremiah 18:1-10 which is the account of Jeremiah visiting the potter and seeing the fact that the potter will reuse the clay if it is flawed and remake it.  It impressed me that I am the imperfect piece of clay and I am at a stage that I will be remade by Him.  It is my prayer that I am not too "stiff" for Him to remake.  I know that I am considered "old," but I know that in His terms, I am not "old."  It has been a wonderful journey so far, and I am looking forward to the next part of my journey in which I will be kept "young" by interacting with my grandchildren in a more active way.  I feel that He wants me to be able to teach the next couple of generations things that He has made possible for me to learn.




So what's next for my dad?
~ a relaxing vacation to Three Hills Inn next week (my parents' favorite getaway spot because it's owned by some friends of theirs)
~ disposing of office stuff:  furniture, papers, various supplies, all kinds of "junk"  :)
~ preparing the building to be used as their home and moving in (there's no timetable for this...no rush at all...but my mother would like to be moved in by winter because the heating system is much better in the office than in their present house and, in her words, "I want to be warm this winter!!")
~ helping in our homeschool, probably with math and science (again, there's no rush with this; but eventually we'll find our groove for how to incorporate him; and I'm really looking forward to not having to grade math lessons!!)  :)
~ inclusion in the "famous" RODEO group (Retired Old Doctors Eating Out)
~ as-of-now unseen adventures - only God knows what the future holds!


The next chapter begins today!

5 comments:

Margie said...

I really enjoyed reading your father's own words, and was quite moved by what he said. Thank you so much for posting them.

Theresa Miller said...

Awesome! I love the wise words of your father. He sounds like a very wise man.

Jo Ann said...

Thank you both for sharing those words! And I think it's so awesome how your parents play such an active and important role in the lives of your boys.

Anonymous said...

I thoroughly enjoyed this post. It's so nice that you have such a close relationship with both of your parents. Congrats to your dad on entering his next stage of life!

Patti said...

I love that your parents will soon be living in the re-purposed office--it's a beautiful metaphor for your father's new life. It will be warmer there, indeed.

We had a brief visit from our new neighbor tonight. He's newly married and two weeks into medical school. He expressed equal parts gratitude at all God has done to get him here, and trepidation regarding the arduous journey ahead of him. That humility will serve him well, I think.