"We Are Irrelevant Now"

 

    She leaned in my direction with her coffee in hand and said, cheerfully, "We are irrelevant now." 

    We had arrived early at the Dublin, Ireland airport...on purpose. We were headed home and wanted to check our backpacks through to Phoenix, via Dallas-Fort Worth International airport with high hopes that they would make it all the way. We also had a secondary reason: get our last coffee at Butler's Coffee Cafe. We had discovered a coffee that almost equaled Dutch Bros, our favorite in AZ. However, unlike Dutch Bros, Butler's adds a piece of their candy with every coffee. This morning, we asked for dark chocolate, salted caramel.

    With our piping hot cups, we searched for an empty table, and fortunately, found one. To our surprise, we did not end up with two coffees, but one hot chocolate and one coffee. Our drinks were un-lidded and we were pouring one into another, mixing the coffee with the chocolate drink when a couple asked if they could join us at our table.

     Both of them born and reared in Dublin, they were a wealth of voluntary information as they sipped their teas from Butlers. Don't you know about their coffee? I remember thinking. A newly retired pharmacist, the two were headed to Nice, France where they vacationed occasionally. Nice!  I thought. She shared about their once busy professional lives, their children and now retirement days. 

    He interjected in a beautiful Irish accent, "That's quite a potion you have mixed up there. How's it taste?" 

      "This is the extent of our chemistry knowledge, but Butler's can now serve a chocolate coffee." We confessed with a light laugh.

    Then, she said it. "We are irrelevant now," and casually bit into the remainder of her chocolate.

     I swallowed mine and murmured "Oh, we shouldn't think like that. I believe, especially in retirement, we can still make an impact. I'm sure you do now.  I asked if I could share something with her. She agreed.

From my sticky chocolate-covered fingers into hers, I gave her a card that we travel with that quoted Jeremiah 29:11. She accepted it, read it and thanked me.

I told her we were retired, too, and mentioned what occupied our lives now. She knew two of them...already.

    Later, after our "nice to meet you and safe travels" farewells, I sat at the gate and recalled many famous people who made an impact late in life. I researched the age at which they died.

• Moses was 120 and he certainly had an impactful life
• Noah was 950 and he made a significant difference
• Abraham, 175 years old. His impact is a living testimony today
• Isaac and Jacob died at 180 and 147, respectively
• Florence Nightingale, a most compassionate nurse, died in her sleep at age 90
• Laura Ingalls Wilder published her first book at 65
• Harriet Tubman died at the age of 91 with words of faith on her lips
• Dr. George Washington Carver died at the age of 79. We love our peanuts to this day!

    We could go on and on. These are names we know, but think about those older around us, still living, who have made and are making an impact in our lives. Aren't we just as obligated to make a positive impact?

    I say, as long as God gives us breath, as long as we are above ground, we can make a difference and have a positive effect. Actually, God's children are never irrelevant...even after we die. (See names mentioned above.)  Even when we briefly meet a stranger. 

Matter today!

Keep Looking Up!

J:m and L:nda