{"id":388,"date":"2014-06-30T10:01:33","date_gmt":"2014-06-30T15:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=388"},"modified":"2014-07-12T10:04:55","modified_gmt":"2014-07-12T15:04:55","slug":"happily-ever-after","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=388","title":{"rendered":"Happily Ever After"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cTherefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.\u201d<\/em> Isaiah 51:11 KJV<\/p>\n

I have a day job: I work for a company that supplies contract support to the FAA, and this job is more fun that I ever had in my actual 30-year FAA career. The reason it\u2019s fun is because my role is now limited to what we fondly refer to as \u201cproduction work\u201d. Production work pretty much entails doing what I\u2019m told to do and applying the technical expertise I obtained over many years to do it. Now some people might consider such a demotion insulting. Though I\u2019m often asked for advice, I\u2019m no longer privy to nor do I influence policy-making, politics, or personnel decisions. I\u2019m not insulted in the least. I\u2019m retired now, separated from the fray. Even though I hear about the ongoing shenanigans because I\u2019m at work every day, I\u2019m no more a participant than when I spent my mornings on the back patio drinking coffee.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not unique. My buddies feel the same way. Truth is, we aren\u2019t above kissing our green striped contractor badges when one of our beleaguered FAA colleagues is dealing with a particularly sticky wicket. One friend who retired last January told me recently he had enough Calvinism in him to be waiting for the other shoe to drop. Retirement simply seems too good to be true.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve become an evangelist for retirement. To my friends and former colleagues who are still on the other side of that Great Divide, I say, \u201cJust you wait. Maybe you enjoy your work now, as I did, but just you wait. It\u2019s truly remarkable when that investment you are making pays off and you are completely and utterly free. It\u2019s mahvelous, darling. Simply smashing!\u201d<\/p>\n

As my friend Craig alluded with his Calvinism remark, we\u2019ve become too sophisticated to believe easily in the happily ever after of fairy tales. A Harvest House senior editor named Nick Harrison maintains a wonderfully encouraging website called The Magnificent Christian Life. The Christian Life truly is magnificent, and so very much more satisfying in every way than any other life. But it\u2019s likely Mr. Harrison would be the first to tell you that as good as it is, it doesn\u2019t hold a candle to what lies ahead in the Happily Ever After. I think it took my own retirement for me to really begin to believe treasures beyond our collective imagination await us (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).<\/p>\n

Golden streets and pearly gates notwithstanding, I am really jazzed about seeing Mama and Daddy, Dadaw and Mamaw, Grandma and Papa. I have aunts and uncles I can\u2019t wait to see. Cousins too, particularly one little girl named Helen, who was accidentally shot and killed when she was only five. She\u2019s sleeping, waiting, and will be there, I\u2019m quite sure. I had a cousin named Gracie and a friend named Estelle. It will be so good to see them again. Makes me want to cry, thinking of it. What a day it will be when I\u2019m gathered to my people! There\u2019s even a person who died in 1780-something and was buried in Williamsburg, Virginia, under a headstone that reads, \u201cHere rests in hope.\u201d I want to meet that Christian!<\/p>\n

The Happily Ever After won\u2019t be like it is here, all full of conflict and drama and quirks and such. Everyone will be as we should have been all along. We will be all that we can be. I think we will work the talents that lay dormant in us our all our earthly lives. Everyone will rejoice in the beauty of such a thing, and no one will feel jealous or threatened. We will have the bloom of our youth. Daddy couldn\u2019t wait for that. He talked about it all the time. \u201cI\u2019ll be a young man again,\u201d he said, smiling.<\/p>\n

Does it get any better than that? Whatever our lifelong struggles have been, they will only be a memory. In perspective. Understood for what they were.<\/p>\n

And we shall all live happily ever after in the light of the Lord (Revelation 22:5). In the meantime, go with God, and have fun storming the castle!<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Melissa Kay Simonds<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cTherefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.\u201d Isaiah 51:11 KJV I have … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Mo02-6g","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":202,"url":"http:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=202","url_meta":{"origin":388,"position":0},"title":"Prisoners In Disguise","author":"lsimonds","date":"August 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cThe captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed, that he should not die in the pit, and that his bread should not fail.\u201d Isaiah 51:14 Have you ever heard of someone digging a hole for himself with his words? \u201cKeep talkin\u2019,\u201d the expression goes, \u201cyou\u2019re digging yourself in deeper.\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2012"","block_context":{"text":"2012","link":"http:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":312,"url":"http:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=312","url_meta":{"origin":388,"position":1},"title":"The Road Not Taken","author":"lsimonds","date":"September 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Lord of Hosts has sworn, saying, \u201cSurely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, And as I have purposed, so it shall stand: That I will break the Assyrian in My land, And on My mountains tread him underfoot. Then his yoke shall be removed from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2013"","block_context":{"text":"2013","link":"http:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":691,"url":"http:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=691","url_meta":{"origin":388,"position":2},"title":"The Weary World Rejoices","author":"lsimonds","date":"December 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\"For we know that the whole creation groans together and travails in pain together until now.\" Romans 8:22, Darby Translation \u201cIt was, of course, the memory of Sophie and Nathan's long-ago plunge that set loose this flood [of tears], but it was also a letting go of rage and sorrow\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016"","block_context":{"text":"2016","link":"http:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":453,"url":"http:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=453","url_meta":{"origin":388,"position":3},"title":"Knock Yourself Out","author":"lsimonds","date":"March 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cKeep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you.\u201d Matthew 7:7 Amplified Bible This is a luxurious (for me) post in which I unload about writing. To begin with, writing is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2015"","block_context":{"text":"2015","link":"http:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":547,"url":"http:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=547","url_meta":{"origin":388,"position":4},"title":"That Was Then, This Is Now","author":"lsimonds","date":"March 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cArise, shine, for your light has come, and\u00a0the glory of the\u00a0Lord\u00a0has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,\u00a0and thick darkness the peoples; but the\u00a0Lord\u00a0will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. 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