220 - Retirement

Our Executive Director at Beth Emet Synagogue, Jill Randell, called me up a couple of months ago and asked if I could write a psalm to read at the Shabbat that would celebrate her 15 years at Beth Emet and her retirement from that vital position. I like to find a bit of text that expands on the theme of these life event psalms. Psalm 92, which we read on Shabbat morning, included these lines, verse 15:

“They shall bring forth fruit in maturity;
They shall be full of vitality and richness.”

Retirement is a change of station - worker to non-worker. It can also be a time of exploration: new goals, new occupations, and renewed dreams.

Two Hundred Twenty

Retirement

You are Guardian of all our seasons,
The Promise that sustains us;
Each completion gives way to beginning,
A cycle of personal creation.

As life changes and evolves,
You are the Constant, storing experiences
To serve as remembrance of past accomplishments,
Cornerstone and beam of existence’s edifice.

The work of these hands has served You,
A blessing and a charge, more than duty:
A calling, a challenge to fulfill;
May my offerings be remembered with favor.

Let these coming years as well,
Expand my potentials for Your sake;
May time now be given to family, to friends,
To new creativities, to study and good deeds.