One of the subjects that I am often asked to speak on is vocational discernment — how we can get a better idea of what God may be calling us to do. I have also written a book on the topic, Discover Your Calling: The ABC of Vocational Discernment. Not surprisingly I often teach this to undergrads and young adults. But I have always believed that this is a topic we should revisit at different stages of life. We should reflect on this afresh at mid-life to see if any course correction is needed in our lives now that we have more of life to reflect upon.
I also believe that we should revisit the topic of vocation in our senior years. This is especially true when, with better healthcare, we may have many more productive years in the later stages of life. I am delighted that there are more and more voices encouraging seniors to discover/rediscover their purpose. Keith R. Anderson, in his latest book, On Holy Ground, writes:
The search for sacred purpose doesn’t belong only to the young, but to all of us of whatever age. You may be young like my grandchildren, in your 40s or 50s like my children, or you may be “seasoned” like my peers who don’t believe in retirement but prefer the notion that we are redeployed for our next season of fidelity to Jesus. I don’t ask the question of purpose exclusively of young people. It is a dynamic, sometimes changing, always essential quest for all ages. [1]
I like what Anderson says about fidelity to Jesus. There is a danger that, upon retirement, a person feels that it is now his/her time. They no longer need to report to anyone. They can now do whatever they want. For followers of Jesus, this is just not true. We are not our own. We were bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). That means at all stages of life we ask, what does fidelity to Christ look like?
A starting point could be how we perceive retirement. There will be some of us who cannot retire for any number of reasons, including the need for continuing income. But for those of us who can retire from some version of a nine-to-five job, we need to ask, what is retirement? For many it represents the start of a chapter of life akin to a permanent vacation. We can do whatever we want or nothing at all. Work no longer features in our thinking.
Some may have worked very hard and will be glad to remove the harness of work from their lives. They need the rest and recreation that cessation of daily work brings. Perhaps we can think of the beginning of a post-employment stage of life as a sabbatical and not as a permanent vacation. I think it is fair that we take a year or two off if we have had a particularly demanding work life. We need time to rest, reflect, and pursue things we never had the time to pursue.
But after a time, one or two years perhaps, come back from your sabbatical and ask the Lord what He would want you to do at this chapter of life. It may have nothing to do with what you were doing previously, and it probably will not be with the same intensity. It may even be the first time you get to do what is closest to your heart.
So much of seniors’ ministry is framed as how we can minister to seniors. That must continue because there will be some at this stage of life who struggle with challenges like dementia and loneliness. But we should also be asking how we can help seniors to minister.
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[1] Keith R. Anderson, On Holy Ground (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2025), xvi.