Wake Up, Look Up

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hello everyone thanks for listening to

wake up lookup a podcast where we

connect events happening in real time to

the Gospel of Jesus Christ I'm Zach wck

and in today's episode we are asking the

question how do you empty nest to the

glory of God now listen even if you're

listening to this and you're not yet in

the empty Nest stage stay plugged into

this because I think what I have to say

is relevant for all of us this is

prompted by the way uh by a really

poignant article that was in the

Atlantic this week by Gretchen Rubin a

writer who's describing her own

experience as she takes the youngest of

her two daughters to college and leaves

her there and enters into the quote

unquote empty nest phase of Life uh she

made some fascinating points in the

article but let me give you just one

piece of uh data first and that is that

there are over 22 A5 million empty

nesters in the United States currently

and in fact that number is continuing to

rise as people live longer and spend

more of their life uh without their kids

and that's the most interesting point

that Gretchen Rubin made when she said

if you think about the math so take me

for example I was 25 when my oldest

child was born and when my youngest

child moves out I'll be 53 so I will

have spent 28 years as a parent but she

makes the point that if I live till 83 I

will spend more of my life without kids

in the home than I will spend with kids

in the home empty nest is a negative

term it's a depressing term it implies

that I'm living in a building that was

really designed for one purpose raising

children now the children are gone and

I'm just sitting in a nest for no

apparent reason but what's interesting

about the article is that uh her answers

to how to deal with empty nest are

really pretty thin and I no disrespect

to miss rubben she might be a wake-up

lookup listener probably not but just in

case let me say this she talks about hey

use this season of life to explore

yourself to travel to develop hobbies

and interests she she talks about moving

from an empty nest mindset to an Open

Door mindset and she says that your do

should be open to new possibilities and

to your children who will pop in and out

of your home and in and out of your life

for the rest of your life but I I found

myself when I was reading the article

being a little disappointed because the

headline of moving from empty nest to

Open Door had me excited at what I

thought she was going to say which is

that when your kids are out of your home

that means there's space in your home to

welcome new people maybe because I'm the

pastor of a local church or maybe

because I'm a student of the Bible who

tells me that hospitality is really the

practice of turning strangers into

Brothers but I can't help but think that

so much of my life right now is about my

kids I'm driving them to things I'm

picking them up from things I'm spending

time with them I'm discipling them which

means if you want to come over for

dinner I'm scheduling like in the next

summer right just don't have time for

you right now I have to focus on the

five human beings I'm trying to keep

alive but when those people are gone all

of a sudden there are empty seats at my

table there are empty seats in my living

room my calendar has freed up in a

newfound way and the reason that's so

encouraging is because local churches

are full of single people other empty

nesters people who don't have families

aren't close to their families who you

could bless tremendously by channeling

just one sliver of the time and energy

you used to give your kids maybe you

don't have kids to cook for anymore but

I know a lot of people in your church

who have not had a home-cooked meal at

least not a good one in a long time

maybe you are so free of doing laundry

all the time but I bet there's a college

student at your local church that sure

wouldn't mind using your washer and

dryer and not having to pay at the

laundry mat the point is is that I

thought Miss Ruben was going to say your

doors should be open to new people and

she didn't say that but the Bible does

God is often encouraging us in the

scriptures to see what we have as an

instrument to open ourselves up to love

our neighbors and more importantly for

our neighbors to experience the love of

God when your children move out your

life isn't over because your life isn't

fundamentally about your children it's

about the glory of God and the pursuit

of his kingdom which can now in a new

and bigger and exciting way happen in

your living room and your dining room

and your kitchen listen even if you have

kids if you're like me and you're in the

throws of raising kids and you can't

even contemplate what it would be like

for them to move out ask yourself this

question am I building a life that's

going to feel entirely empty when my

kids leave listen children are a

blessing I love my kids and you love

yours don't ever apologize for that but

don't build the kind of life that leaves

you feeling like you're in an empty nest

when they leave build a life of

community that is bigger than your kids

and that way when they leave they're

simply making space for the new people

God wants you to love that is how you

empty nest to the glory of God hey

thanks so much for watching this video

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