SERVING WITH EXCELLENCE
January 14, 2021
Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for giving us good work to do as Your ambassadors in this world. Thank You for the strength You give us. Amen.
Scripture: Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth. Ps 71:9
I am sixty years old. I should retire. Why do I think I should retire? Because the last thing I want to be is the old lady who kids think is too old to teach.
I remember thinking that way at age 16. “She’s so old! Why doesn’t she retire?” Mrs. Munger seemed ANCIENT (probably 55). She would stand before us, stocky and matronly, smiling kindly at us, obviously loving us and her job. But she would shrug a runaway bra-strap back upon her shoulder…a habit I found….old. Now, my shoulders slope, and rather than simply shrugging my bra-strap up, I take a finger and hoist it up. I am an old teacher.
Old ladies smell old. They smell musty. I remember, distinctly, sitting at the piano with my perennially perturbed spinster piano teacher–also ancient–probably 60–standing beside me. She smelled like old leaves.
Last night I went into the family room and asked my husband, “Am I starting to smell like an old lady?” He gave the right answer. “No.”
I love my job. I love the school. I love the kids. I love the constantly changing classroom climate. I don’t want to retire. Do I have to? Am I so concerned that someone will think I’m too old to teach?
I will trust the Lord to guide me each day He allows me to influence this next generation and to let me know when it is time for a new assignment.
Copyright Cheryl Skid. Email [email protected]
Thank you. I needed this today. I am 63 and I have been thinking about retiring. But, I just don’t feel God is finished with me, yet. I began teaching at 50…..yes, 50. When my former employer of 22 years closed to move out of the country, I returned to school and received a 2-year accounting degree. I went to work in the local school system as the accountant for a grant program. I loved it. But, grants run out. So, I went back to school at night, worked full time during the day and finished a teaching degree in 3 1/2 years. God had called me and HE gave me the strength to do it. That’s when I began teaching. It is the hardest job I have ever had, yet I love it. Now, thinking about leaving it stirs my insides. I have told myself, “two more years.” I am not the oldest teacher here, but almost. I see all these young people teaching ….they’re just kids themselves. Most of the students think I’m in my forties or fifties and they think that is ancient. LOL I will keep on keeping on a while longer. Praising God for strength and wisdom.
Spot on. At 57, I sometimes wonder how much longer I will be allowed to participate in this great adventure of teaching. I suppose the answer is, as long as the Lord allows.
You hit the nail right on the head with the old and am still supposed to be here?
Thank yo for the encouraging words and spot on thinking, of course I had not thought about the smell, but now I will HAHAHAHA!
I turned 60 on 12/25/20! Reading this devotional was the second time this week God proved His faithfulness to me this week! He is a mighty God. Thank you for following the Spirit’s leading to write this truth for me. I will keep trusting and believing He IS in control!