Then What?

Then what? That’s a question we should all ask ourselves. Routinely. What exactly am I going to do after …after work today? After my last child has flown the coop? After I retire? After I die??? What answers would you come up with? Something that would please the senses? After work I will go meet friends for a drink…and then what? After my baby leaves for college, I will turn her room into a game room. Ok, then what? After I retire I will sit on a river bank and fish. Then what? After I die I will…….obviously THIS is the most important question to ask yourself, but doesn’t some of the answers to the former questions decide the answer to the last?

Not that I am remotely saying that if your answers are about works, this gets you into heaven; we all know that’s not true. But doesn’t our works, the things we put our time and energy into reflect our hearts desire most of the time? Now I realize some of what we have to do is about obligations we have to fulfill, but those moments and rare down times we have,…isn’t that about our passions? Whether it’s sports, shopping, watching television, spending time with family; it’s about the things we choose to do. Do we choose to spend time with God or to be used by Him in some way to benefit His kingdom? Or does that fall into the “obligation” category?

I’m reading this book called “Half Time“; it’s about the second half of your life. You know, after we have all scratched and clawed our way to the top of which ever ladder we deemed appropriate for our lives. In it, the writer, Bob Buford, tells us how he struggled with success panic at the age of 44. He had to decide whether he was going to spend the rest of his life doing what he had been doing, and getting what he been getting (which was quite beneficial for him-he was extremely wealthy!) or did he see his life as unfulfilled (despite the millions) as a Christian and a person.

His story goes hand in hand with the message at my church yesterday entitled ‘Enduring Faith”. Our Pastor posed the question “then what?” Obviously it has been nagging at me since, thus prompting this blog. For I too am at an age where I am questioning my own :“then what?” I have raised my children (and between God, myself and my husband, I think we did a pretty good job) I have established my friendships, the ones that truly matter in life, I have carved out a niche for myself in our business that gives me a certain significance in my mind, but now find myself at odds with the ‘then what?’.

I don’t want this to be all there is for me. I recognize that while I may be limited in a lot of areas, I am gifted in some as well. I really believe that everyone was created by God for a purpose and not just to take up space on the planet. Obviously some are created with gifts that allow them to do greater things for mankind and for the kingdom of God, but all of us have something that contributes to helping and serving both God and mankind. I am trying to be purposeful in finding out what mine is and prioritizing my life around it. I’m still not sure what that looks like exactly but I’m getting a clearer picture. I do know that my prayer for 2011 is to use me to help fulfill Matthew 9:37 “the harvest is ready but the workers are few”. But then what?

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