Planning is a visionary activity which should not be restricted to business organizations or governmental institutions. It is as important to organizations as it is to people in their personal activities.
“Planning involves the establishment of objectives and a step-by-step determination of activities and resources necessary to achieve them” (Howard M. Carlisle).
To a dynamic public servant with the objective of a viable and blissful retirement, the strategies, activities and resources to be employed can be useful only if he realizes the importance of change as a crucial factor in the planning process. Change requires adjustment. And adjustment demands more than theoretical planning because it has emotional dimension.
The public servant who engages in pre-retirement planning is better able to handle all the dimensions of the necessary adjustments because he acclimatizes himself early enough with “in-built” shock absorbers, which stabilizes his movement from active service to blissful retirement.
Myles Munroe, a world-class motivational writer, says that change always requires a response. According to him, all you can do in relation to change is prepare for it, plan for it, submit to it, manage it and adjust to it. He went ahead to list three types of change which constantly confront us:
1. Change that happens around us.
2. Change that happens to us.
3. Change that we make happen.
Munroe has recommended a proactive response to change as the best approach. It goes beyond a passive and inquisitive approach by seeking to alter the direction and impact of change.
Dynamic Strategies
i. Good Health
Every public servant should plan, think and desire to have good health at retirement. Without this, every other provision will not be useful. But it requires more than wishful thinking, because certain habits and life patterns have to be altered positively.
ii. Expand Your Knowledge and Information Base
In today’s global family, the search and acquisition of knowledge and information are no longer optional. It has become mandatory for successful living. Developing keen interest in reading is a sure way of knowledge acquisition and expansion. Increased intellectual capacity serves to broaden a man’s vision of life in tune with current trends and acceptable practices.
As Francis Bacon has observed:
“Reading maketh a full man.”
iii. Willingness and Readiness for Adjustments
The public servant may require to acquire additional skills or to attend seminars for new areas of post-retirement engagement. Many are willing, but few are ready to take the plunge. The wishes have been in abundance, but the real “horses” have been found only in night dreams. So, willingness must be matched with readiness if the potential nightmare of post-retirement poverty is to be averted.
FULFILL THE PURPOSE
We can fulfill the purpose for which God sent us to this earth-plane, and that should be the real essence of our life on earth. It should be the major target which we set to achieve within our lifespan.
But we should first discover what God wants us to do. God wants us to be fruitful in life. The book of Genesis 1:28 presents the desire of God for us thus:
“Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion…”
This original desire of God is still the major purpose of God for man, but we cannot fulfill it outside the will and plan of God. His will is the divine strategic plan inspired by Him and recorded in the Bible. So, His will is His Word. And His Word has been made flesh and dwelt with us and manifested His love by example.
No wonder Jesus stated:
“My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to complete His work” (John 4:34).
Jesus set a great example for us by making the purpose of God His own purpose.
Obedience to the will of His Father became a predisposing factor to His actions on earth. Today, Jesus has become our supreme advocate who has provided us a gateway to the Father (John 14:6). If we abide in Him, He shall abide in us, and since He is already in the Father, we shall bring forth much fruit (John 15:5).
“Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.”
Therefore, much fruit-bearing is an indisputable characteristic feature of effective discipleship, confirming the mandate of God to the first man:
“Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish and subdue the earth.”
Our Lord Jesus Christ has fulfilled the task of restoring the original mandate of God to man.
This advocatorial and restorative agenda of my Lord Jesus was further enhanced when He authorized believers to go and perform even beyond His own recorded miracles. You can hear directly from Jesus when He said:
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
Remember that the only qualification to operate at this level is to be a genuine believer in our Lord Jesus Christ. So, go ahead from today to realize this mandate authoritatively by a direct connection to the divine powerhouse where the Father and the Son are ever present.
You will further be aided by the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who now fills and indwells genuine believers, and provides the transportation service to the presence of the Almighty God.