I had the privilege this morning of attending a retirement ceremony at our city’s Police Department. One of our finest was giving up his badge after 29 years of faithful service.
The room was full of officers in uniform, friends, and family. I had served as chaplain of our fine PD for many years and felt honored just to be present. Many accolades were given to the retiree but 3 words stuck in my mind that I hope can be said of all of us one day.
Of course many things could describe any of us. Someone could say of Jorge Acevedo, “he loved to chill under the umbrella at the beach” (above picture). I’m cool with that! But I’m thinking about a portrayal of a person that carries a bit more substance than that of bumming it and catching a serious tan in the process.
The first word is laughter. It was said of the officer being honored that he had a great sense of humor and a contagious laugh that could be heard in the distance.
A sense of humor is vital to survival. Daily troubles and bad news tend to suck the gusto out of us. We need to make a daily choice to turn our frown upside down.
If you’re the serious type, challenge yourself to have a good laugh at least once a day. It’s worth it. Also, pay attention the lighter side of life.
If you have a pet dog at home, make sure you laugh out loud at the silliness of it chasing its own tail or doing the boot-scoot-and boogie on your carpet. Things like that show the wonderful sense of humor that God has. The weird ways of animals come straight out of the mind of the One who created them. And if He can smile so can you.
The story of Jesus Christ dying on the cross for your sins (and mine) and then resurrecting from the dead is referred to as the Good News. Good News make us feel….well…good. God knew we needed something to feel good and grin about so He gave us His Son Jesus.
Go God!
All I’m saying is that we need to be quick to chuckle, snicker, and howl. Develop your sense of humor and just laugh more.
The second word is team player (sorry…that’s actually 2 words).
Others need to know that you have their backs, that they have a friend in you.
You can go at life as a Lone Ranger if you want, but even the gun-slinger needed Tonto by his side.
Teamwork, someone said, makes the dream work: your dreams, your friend’s dreams, your church’s dreams, your company’s dreams, any dreams.
Doing life together with others is key. Value others enough to give of yourself to them and they will, most often, reciprocate your efforts.
The last word is passion. This word was not particularly used at the ceremony I attended but the fact that the officer worked his patrol, taught our youngsters about the dangers of drugs, and did community work, all with a smile on his face for 29 years, speaks of passion.
Passion moves us into action. Dullness is the opposite of passion and you don’t want to go there. Whatever is dull is unattractive, boring, and unusable.
Be passionate and motivated about life!
When it comes time for you to hang it up, whatever you do for a living, so you can start a new chapter in your life, will others use words like laugh, team player, and passion to describe you? I hope they do of me.
What’s your take on this?
Please make sure you leave me a comment. Thanks.
Isn’t it interesting, Jorge to realize that our Lord, Jesus Christ had/has all those qualities you mentioned? As He traveled around with His disciples, I bet He shared laughter with them. Doing things together with them, always teaching them, coaching them, watching out for them.
He definitely was a team player on the Father’s team, going so far as to sacrifice Himself in order to achieve the ‘goal’!
And the passion! The passion is always present, because He loves us so much!
As our lives unfold, Jesus truly should be our example!
Next year around April will mark 40 years for me of working for the United States Postal Service. If I do decide to retire next year, I hope my peers remember me the way that officer’s co-workers gave tribute to him.
But even more important than that, when I finally see Jesus in heaven, I look forward to hearing Him say to me, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
Very well put Jim. Jesus was an example of an attractive life for sure.