Taking a Break...

... from semi-retirement.

Well, after three months of the much sought-after and ballyhooed move into semi-retirement back on December 4, I am filling in full-time back at work.

That was short-lived.

Three months of semi-retirement, including the month in Alabama moved back to the old 8 to 5 routine this past Tuesday. Thanks to a need at work they called me and wondered if I could come in and sub for a while.

Sure. Why not?

After all it's still cold outside and it could snow some more and I'm just a good guy willing to help out.

So now, after three days back at work (in a job I truly love, by the way!) it has gone well. I have agreed on 6 - 8 weeks, if needed, which would take me to Easter or the first week of May. We will look at the needs after that, if I am still needed in the full-time position.

But, it's interesting to reflect on it. I am enjoying it since I enjoy the job. That gives me a moment's pause of how I responded to a previous generation who I saw as being unwilling to retire.

I don't think that's what I'm doing. The difference is in many aspects I have a control over my time, now, that I never had at any time in my adult working career of over 40 years. It is by choice that I am doing what I am doing- and caring for the work that is being done.

Yes, it is curtailing some of my new or renewed activities for the moment, but they haven't disappeared.

And, I have a perspective on how good I feel after these past 3 months. The "taking care of myself" without some of the stress and tension that work can bring is refreshing. As I sat in the office yesterday thinking about how lucky I am, I was humbled.

It is good to have a skill that can be used and that I can still use. It is good to be able to share with my co-workers. Finally, it is doing something I like.

Sure, it's nice to have the extra money and stretch what I have until I turn 66 and can take full Social Security. I can put some more aside for some trips and "toys."

But that isn't worth it if I am unhappy. Life's too short.

How blessed am I!

A day of gratitude without any doubt.

And I can always go back to semi-retirement hours at any time.

What Do You Do?

Listening to part of the TED Hour on NPR over the weekend I was a little confused. It was a session on "success" and jobs and the speaker talked about how we often ask others the question of this post:

What do you do?

I wasn't following the whole idea of the talk but he seemed to be saying that this idea that our identity is found in what we do is a modern idea. He talked about how it used to be that you were identified by where you were from.

My first reaction was:

Hmmm. That's interesting.

Then I stopped. I remembered people I've known with names like:

• Miller
• Cooper
• Farmer
• Smith

These are a few of the ones we know from English. My last name is an occupational one from German- a feudal serf or tenant farmer.

Yes, there are also many surnames for places. There are also others that were adopted for different reasons. Many names are simply John's son, etc. One of the dangers in making the kind of all-encompassing statements the speaker made is that they are often wrong.

The differences today, I think, include the fact that we have "free-time" or leisure to do more than just be a miller or farmer. Today we can be more than what we do. We also have the physical ability to live beyond the years of "work" or occupation.

Perhaps today we have to ask what others do because they don't carry it in their name or clothing or the condition of their hands. Perhaps we are now in a post-occupational world where what we do is only part of who we are and in reality no longer defines us.

Which can get confusing.

I have felt that before. First when I went on leave of absence from the church's pastoral ministry and then "retired" from the pastoral ministry. That which defined me for 30 years was done.

Now, 10 years later I am again leaving a full-time occupation behind as I near retirement. As I commented the other day, the grief of that is real. Again, some of my personal definition is changing.

On the other hand I am not sure what it means to answer the title question, What do you do? with:

Nothing. I'm retired.

I find that as incongruous as the old question of asking a "housewife" whether she worked or not? But at the same time answering with some Zen-like comment:

I'm a human being, not a human doing.

is also pretty silly. What do I do? What will I do? As an occupation? As a way of life? As a lifestyle? As a mission? As a vocation? An avocation?

Sure, in the end I am me, but that is also a cop-out for I am me in relation to my family and friends, co-workers and what I do. These all define me. I am not defined in a vacuum. My name, inherited through the centuries from some unknown German serf who needed a last name, does not describe me. Never did.

In the end I guess we each have to make our own name and see where it goes.

Meetings, Meetings, Meetings

Listening to Marketplace on public radio yesterday I heard one of those interesting little factoids that get your attention. Simply put, there are over 4 billion work meetings held in the United States every year.

That's 4 with a "B" billion.

From the Marketplace story:

Nancy Koehn, who teaches at the Harvard Business School [says] "Over half of the people surveyed say about half the meetings they attend are unproductive."

"So maybe a little more than two billion meetings a year that most people regard a very poor use of their time -- that seems like a real waste," she adds.

That reminded me of a personal story from almost 40 years ago. I was attending my first national church gathering- a meeting of meetings held, at that time, over a whole week- to plan and legislate for the life of the church. I was a wide-eyed young pastor who had also been a political science major in college. I was enthralled by it.

Excitement. Discussions (almost endlessly). BIG ideas. On and on.

As we left the big assembly one afternoon I was walking with one of our Bishops. He was about 4 years from retirement and had been to more of these than he cared to count. As we walked he started shaking his head, looked over at me, and said in full sincerity and frustration:

There will be no meetings in heaven. If there are, I might take options on the other place.

I put it down to age and frustration with the process. I was still idealistic and hopeful and, well, a believer in the system.

Today I am the old guy- and I am not planning on being anywhere near those meetings again. I gave up on that 10 years or so ago. Not just church meetings, but I would agree with the Marketplace story that at least half of all meetings are a waste of time. Yes, even the ones I led as a pastor.

I have found that workplace meetings can be just as unproductive. Most of what happens can be done in more efficient ways. Unfortunately, until the end of the meeting you don't know if this is one of those that just, perhaps, maybe, might be productive.

So I go to the meetings I am required to. I am learning to sit and listen. I don't try to talk much. I wait for the important stuff. Sure it comes. At those times I am glad I was there to get it.

But really, isn't there a better way?

A Holiday Quote

Might as well hear some more words from Dr. King on this Labor Day.

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
– Martin Luther King Jr.