My Retirement Cake
Yesterday was the first full day of my retirement. My 46-year career as a nurse has ended. This was not sudden because, on my birthday in 2022, I became a PRN nurse, which meant I was only required to work two shifts a month. Doing that until January 2, 2025, was a great transition to retirement.
However, the last shift I worked I shared with my best friend and nurses I have worked with for 33 years. At one point in the shift, one of the nurses and I were talking about my retirement, and I could tell by the look on her face we were headed for that "we won't see each other again" conversation. I did not want to go there. "Ugly crying" at work is something to avoid at all costs. It was then, out of the blue, a thought came into my head. I am absolutely sure the Lord planted this thought, and I told Shirley, "Shirley, we will have a long eternity together. I'm sure all of us will sit around together in heaven one day and tell work stories."
That thought, "We will have a long eternity together," became my mantra. Anytime someone looked at me with misty eyes, I repeated it. It was my mantra—and my comfort—for the night and for the next morning when I left the hospital. It comforted me then, and it does now.
Since then, I have been thinking about what is often referred to as an "eternity view." If everything we do, think, or encounter is viewed through the lens of eternity, then things certainly are different.
Take, for example, the passing of a loved one or friend. When my father passed away unexpectedly, our good friend Tom called, and his first words to me were, "I heard your father moved to a better neighborhood."
Those words first made me laugh, with the realization of how true they were, and then they comforted me. My father didn't die - oh, his body did. His heart just stopped beating. But my father's spirit lives on and is in the presence of the Lord. One day his earthly body will be resurrected and transformed into a body without corruption and united to his spirit. This is true of all who believe in the Lord Jesus.
But there is more to living in the light of eternity.
Every moment of our lives impacts eternity in some way. There are people the Lord has placed in our lives to show love and kindness to, which might lead them to faith in the Lord. There are places He intends for us to go and things He intends for us to do, requiring us to seek His guidance and leading. Perhaps there should be less thought on our earthly bank account and more thought on the "unsearchable riches of Christ." How much differently would we think of each person we meet if we made the choice to remember that this very person in front of us was someone for whom the Lord Jesus died?
So, in this new year, as well as this new phase of my life, I have the heartfelt desire to view my life, my days, my hours, my minutes, with eternity in mind. What is it the Lord wants to do in that specific minute in my life?
My husband has written on this subject on his blog, and here is the link for that post:
The Special of the Day from the Orange Moon Cafe: "The Eternal Purpose"
