Purpose in the Third Third of Life

Recently Jim Denison wrote an article on “finding purpose that matters most,” especially as we get older. A few weeks before, our Uncommon Guide to Retirement Book Study discussed how we find purpose in our post-retirement years. Purpose is one of the things we talk about in our “Flourishing in the Third Third of Life” courses. People taking that course have shown such an interest in this topic that the De Pree Center has developed a whole five-week course on “Purpose in the Third Third of Life.”

One of the challenges we face as third third-ers is that for much of our lives we have found our purpose in what we did. We found our purpose in raising our children and/or in the work we did. But what happens when the kids are raised and gone and we are no longer going into the office or shop or school? What is our purpose then? All of a sudden we find ourselves asking questions that we asked in our early 20’s.

In the Flourishing Course, Mark Roberts says, “If we are going to live fully and fruitfully in the third third of life, we need to live with purpose.” (BTW – the next Flourishing Course begins on Tuesday, Oct. 6 and meets for six weeks). Mark talks about “primary purpose” and “secondary purpose.” Our primary purpose is the same for every Christian. The Westminster Shorter Catechism Question one puts it this way:

Question – What is the chief end of man?
Answer – Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

I like to say it this way. Our purpose is to glorify God, bless others, and experience the joy of the Lord. Once we are clear about our primary purpose we need to ask the question, “How am I going to accomplish my primary purpose in the daily course of my life?” In other words, how specifically will I glorify God, bless others, and experience the joy of the Lord? To answer that question, we need to take an inventory of our abilities and passions on the one hand and the needs around us on the other. Sometimes the needs are obvious – i.e. a spouse or a grandchild that needs care. Other times we need to do a little research. One thing to do is to check out the volunteer opportunities in the church and community. Often we find needs there that match our skills and touch our hearts.

If you are interested in pursuing this idea of purpose, I encourage you to read the series of articles Mark Roberts wrote entitled “Clarifying Your Purpose in the Third Third of Life.” They can be found on the De Pree Center website. Click HERE to access the link to Part 1.

I am excited about a new ministry HP Pres is partnering with called Academy 4. This is a mentoring program to help 4th graders in disadvantaged schools, including some in East Dallas and North Dallas areas. One Friday a month all the 4th graders in these schools meet with their mentors for 90 minutes – 45 minutes of academics using the A4 curriculum and 45 minutes of playing board games. I don’t know if my secondary purpose is mentoring 4th graders, but this is a way for me to glorify God, bless others, and experience the joy of the Lord. I’ve signed up at Lipscomb Elementary in East Dallas. Do any of you want to join me? The other schools in our area are Highland Meadows and RISD Academy. You can find out more information HERE.

Discovering purpose in the third third of life with you,

Steve McLean, Pastoral Fellow