2. Make an Impact Beyond the Workplace: Leave a Legacy of Faith

Struggle to Find Your Purpose in Retirement?

In this episode of the Courageous Retirement podcast, host Vona Johnson delves into the journey of finding purpose and impact in retirement from a Christian perspective. Reflecting on life's work, accomplishments, and legacy, Vona addresses common fears and misconceptions about retirement. 

She shares touching stories, including her mother’s artistic journey and the biblical tale of Tabitha, illustrating how even simple gifts can make a significant impact. The episode encourages listeners to utilize their talents for joy and greater good, providing suggestions for engaging with community and faith. Tune in for inspiration on living a meaningful and fulfilling retired life.

00:00 Introduction: Reflecting on Legacy
00:20 Embracing Retirement with Purpose
00:39 The Importance of Legacy
02:26 A Personal Story: My Mother's Journey
03:53 Using Your Gifts to Serve
05:25 Opportunities to Make an Impact
09:39 A Biblical Example: The Story of Tabitha
10:47 Conclusion: Living Your More

Thank you for stopping by today! Remember to Engage Your Faith and Live Your More!

To watch the video, check out my YouTube Channel!

Learn more about the show, author Vona Johnson, and more at CourageousRetirement.com!

Transcript

Vona Johnson: 0:00

Can you make an impact in retirement? As Christians, I think it's normal to reflect on our life's work and accomplishments and wrestle with the question of whether we will leave a legacy.

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We often wonder whether we will have a meaningful impact on future generations, our families, our faith community, and beyond. If you struggle with this, you are in the right place.

Vona Johnson: 0:20

Do you fear what lies beyond retirement? What if it's a gateway to a life filled with purpose, meaning, and adventure rather than an end? Discover peace and fulfillment as you boldly enter this new chapter in Courageous Retirement, a Christian podcast. I'm your host, author and coach, Vona Johnson. Let's get started.

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Let's face it. When we get to a certain age, it's difficult not to consider whether we will leave a legacy. The reality is we will all leave a legacy, what we leave for those who follow us will either be good. Or it won't. Along the way we will want to be cognizant of the choices that we make in the impact of our short time that we have here on earth. Be sure to stay to the end where I'm going to share a story of a little known woman in the Bible. And her simple gifts that she used over and over again, to make a significant impact in her community. A fact of life is, is that we don't know when ours is going to end. Some live to be a very long life and to a ripe old age and touch many others only live a few short years. Too often we put the important things off until something happens. And sometimes those things don't come to be, and we don't get things accomplished the way we thought they would. We don't make the big impact that we thought we would. With that in mind, I think it's important to remember that it's never too early to be thinking about the legacy that we will leave behind. Too often we think of our legacy only in the terms of our children and our grandchildren, but in reality, we leave a lasting legacy with a much wider circle than that. I have had teachers and coworkers and Bible study friends who have left me with so much wisdom through the years. And I pull from that often over and over again, as I'm maneuver through this journey of life. And I'll bet you do too. In fact, our legacy doesn't really have anything to do with how much money we leave to someone else or the wisdom that we share with them while we're here. Sometimes our legacy really is in just blessing others with the gifts and talents that God has given us. And sometimes we don't fully utilize all of those gifts, the best that we could. Too often. Life gets in the way. In my speaking, I often tell the story of my mother and her painting. She's a gifted artist. She's a very talented person overall, and she's very creative. And she started painting. In mid life after his kids had all moved on. She had the time. And so she started playing around with painting and it wasn't until much later that she actually took art classes, but she created some really beautiful artwork. But then life just kind of got in the way. She got too busy. She was, traveling for work. Then she would move and she wouldn't have the right space to do the painting that she liked or the lighting wasn't right. And I mean, truly decades passed and she hadn't really picked up her paintbrush seriously at all. Then at 80, she started again. One day she was preparing for an art show and I was there helping her with this show. We were setting up and she was just beyond excited that day. As we were putting things together she paused. She got real quiet and real thoughtful for a minute. And she said, I feel like I've wasted my whole life. I was stunned. This is a woman who could literally do anything she wanted. I just could not believe that, that she would say something like that, but it really got me thinking about where have I wasted my gifts and talents? Where would I at my end of my life, when I questioned whether I've wasted my life. What opportunities have I missed that? I might've been able to bring God glory. Let me bring this into focus for you. If I might. Have you been drifting? Where could you be using your gifts and talents more effectively? Is it in using your talents to bring yourself and others joy? Or maybe it's something else. Maybe you're still in the workplace. And you're starting to think about that legacy that you could leave there, who will remain after you retire. Are they prepared to carry on in your absence? Have you shared Jesus with the people that you work with? I get it. There are places where you can't do that. But you can demonstrate it, even if you can't talk about it, we can demonstrate the love of Jesus. But this isn't about evangelism. This is about living out our faith. Sometimes we just need to help people see how they maybe are perceiving something wrong. And if we could just give them a new perspective. Things go smoother in the workplace. And can you be the person that can help encourage that? Sometimes it's easy to say that, to have those conversations with people and help point them in the right direction. But sometimes it's hard and we don't do so we hold back out of fear. Are there people that are negatively impacting your environment, that you can help remedy that by engaging them in a difficult conversation or two, to change their perspective on how they are perceived? Maybe you can help them see the legacy that they're leaving and whether that's good or not. What small change could you implement that would better prepare your team for you to be able to move on and retire? Or if you're already retired. Who do you interact with regularly? Are they believers? Do you talk about faith and how you can incorporate your faith into your daily activities? Whether you have a group you interact with or not, do you have an outlet to just demonstrate your love of Christ to the world? Can you volunteer at a shelter? Can you help an elderly neighbor or babysit the young children of your neighbors? Maybe you can paint. Like my mom did. We have a group of ladies in our church who prepare meals and package them up and put them in our freezer so the members in our community can take them to shut ins or people who are sick. It's just a beautiful gift that they are sharing with the community using their gifts. Anyone can replicate something like that. Right? So where could you be using your gifts to serve? Maybe you need more than that. You have many talents from the workplace and you could go and consult with an organization or a nonprofit where you can utilize your experiences and give some talents to help them. Maybe the domestic abuse shelter could use your abilities to do bookkeeping for them or giving them a financial advice. You could volunteer to cover the phones over nights and weekends so that the regular staff could take a break. Maybe you want to join a local board for a cause that you believe in such as habitat for humanity or even the local school board. Maybe you're passionate that the school systems need to be focused on education and not some of the other things that are going on in the world and you could volunteer there and make a difference. Maybe you have a story to share and it's time for you to write a book. One of the surprising ways that God showed me, he wanted me to use. My life's experience was for me to sit on the city council here in my community. Something I did not seek out. But I found it to be very fulfilling, to give back. I've been able to bring my experiences from my previous world in the housing, into our city commission and. And so I'm going to encourage you if you have some of those skills that might be useful. Don't wait for somebody to come knock on your door. When God is calling you to do something, have courage, listen to him and take the action that he's calling you to. Every path is different. But make no mistake. God has a plan for you. And he's excited for you to walk in his purpose in your life. Trust me. We don't know how much time we have left and if we're breathing, we still have a purpose here on this earth. Let me finish my mom's story for you. We couldn't know that the day of that art show would be one of the last art show she would be able to do. In fact, a few short months later, she would have a stroke and wouldn't be able to paint anymore. It was really heartbreaking for all of us to see the different ways that that stroke impacted her life. But the most difficult was that she couldn't use those talents that she loved so much. Then one day, we got her connected to a local group of volunteers that were doing what they loved and they were helping people with dementia to paint in creative ways. And my mom believe it or not is making beautiful, beautiful artwork again, it's not the same style that it was before. But it brings her so much joy and really that's what it's about is using our gifts and talents to bring joy to the world, to bring joy to ourselves. We don't have to be martyrs and do things that we hate to do to serve God I think he wants us to be joyful and happy about the work we do. And to really just enjoy those gifts that he's given us. Our God is a God of redemption. And if we pay attention, he's going to show us ways to bring him glory. Even if we haven't used our gifts and talents for a very long time. If this conversation has stirred your soul and has you thinking about how God can use you either before or after retirement to effectively use your gifts and talents, let's hop on a call. I'd love to help you sort through all of it. You would be amazed how God can use you effectively. I will leave a link in the show notes so that you can reach me and have that conversation. At the beginning, I talked about a woman in the Bible who really made a difference just using. What, what some would be considered just really simple gifts and not anything big at all. And it's the story of Tabitha. Luke tells us in chapter nine verse 36, that Tabitha was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor. When she died, her friends asked Luke to come to where she lay. The room was filled with widows who were weeping and showing him the coats and other garments that Tabitha had made for them throughout the years. You see, Tabitha made a huge impact on her community by being kind and making coats and other garments for others. Many came to mourn her when she died and it was likely that most of them were people that she had helped along the way. She didn't have impressive gifts like Peter and the other disciples, but she effectively used the gifts that she did have to make a huge impact on her community. The bottom line is. Don't wish you had different gifts, instead make good use of the ones you do have no matter how small they appear to be. Shifting our identity and retirement can be a real struggle. Be sure to listen to the next episode, episode three, where we talk about identity. We can skip that struggle of our identity as we shift into retirement and go straight to living your more. I want to thank you for stopping by today. It's been such a blessing to have you here. I just pray that this will inspire you to think about how you can engage your faith, finish well and live your more.