Mastering Transitions

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Saying good-by properly is one thing. Starting a new life is another. But both are part of preparing for retirement.
—Ed Bratcher

Retirement is a good-news/bad-news story. The good news is that retirement provides time to do many things we have had to put off through life. In this sense, retirement is a life-giving experience. The bad news is that much of life as we've known it is lost. In this sense, retirement is a deathlike experience.

And sometimes it feels like both simultaneously. Upon my retirement, a friend wrote about his of two years: "As I look back, I must say that the relocation, the complete change of lifestyle, and the economic adjustments have been dramatic, and these changes continue at a pace that keeps me constantly running to catch-up." My friend's advice to me? "Good luck!"

Jesting aside, I believe we can do better (and my friend would agree). In fact, the better we prepare for retirement, the more we'll experience resurrection through the grief of retirement and joy in the new life retirement brings. In particular, I found it helpful to prepare in two distinct ways: I had to prepare to leave and prepare to live.

Before I can begin retirement, I have to retire. That means leaving a church family I've grown to love. Preparing to leave, then, means preparing the church for my departure and saying a proper good-by. I found a variety of tasks to attend to before leaving.

• Give the church good warning. I officially announced my retirement seven months in advance, but I had informed our board of deacons five months prior to that.

I found a year's notice to the church leaders to be about right. The deacons then had time to prepare themselves and the church for my departure. And the seven months ...

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