TO MANY PEOPLE, retirement conjures up images of unlimited leisure and free choice of activities. To others, it suggests inactivity and the end of meaningful achievement. I like the way a very active woman described her retirement from the financial world. "When you re-tire an automobile," she quipped, "you put four new tires on it in order to get more mileage out of the car!"
Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of this magazine, had an active career until she was almost 90. Interestingly, though, she referred to retiring on a regular basis. The type of retiring she spoke of, however, had nothing to do with inactivity. She wrote, "Three times a day, I retire to seek the divine blessing on the sick and sorrowing, with my face toward the Jerusalem of Love and Truth, in silent prayer to the Father which 'seeth in secret,' and with childlike confidence that He will reward 'openly.'"Miscellaneous Writings, p. 133.
Regular retirement of this sort expands opportunities for both thought and action. Prayer deepens our conviction that we are inseparable from God. Anchored in this relationship, we find ourselves less and less anxious and afraid, and more and more inclusive of others in our lives and our prayers. Life opens up when we retire this way. And we're better able to discern God's purpose for us.
