Second Career Happiness!.

Since the first official "baby boomer" turned 65 on January 1, we are seeing a plethora of articles and reports on how boomers are stepping into what used to be called "retirement."

This one, taken from a Jan. 29 article in USA Today, states, "With 77 million Baby Boomers ages 46-65 moving toward traditional retirement, more than 5 million Americans have already entered second careers.  About 1 in 4 people older than 50 moves into a new line of work, but the attraction usually is fewer hours and responsibilities. What binds many older workers together is the desire to work directly with people after careers that were more impersonal."

We think this bodes well for all of us in the Finishers world...those of us looking for possible second careers, and those ministry groups with great opportunities to work directly with people.

The Wall Street Journal, on December 28 of 2010 stated, "The quality of our relationships is the single biggest predictor of our happiness."

The insights from these two articles translate into a great "win-win" combination:  Boomers who want to work more directly with people, i.e., "relationships" and, having good relationships contributes to our personal happiness!

So here we are in February...Valentines...loving relationships, bringing happiness, thinking about people who touch our lives in good ways, thinking about how we can touch lives in significant ways - ways that bring us happiness and ways that make a difference in their lives.

If you are one of the 3.47 million turning 65 this year, I encourage you to be intentional in finding a way to make a difference in the lives of others.  It may be close to home...it may be far away.  Whichever it is, the Lord has been purposefully preparing you for this time in your life.  Fervently ask him to open the right doors, and then embrace the faith and spiritual courage to literally have the time of your life!