Those who are middle-aged and older should anticipate a newly revised vision for their lives.

There is a time in our lives when the future holds so much promise and mystery that the thought of an end to life is merely something to consider on a rainy day. I refer to the beautiful season of life that bridges childhood and adulthood.

Now that I have reached midlife, I sometimes reflect upon those “good old days” of young adulthood, when friendship and emotional connections were ultimate, when older people believed in us and when what was yet to come in our lives was paramount in our minds.

Mrs. Cunningham was my favorite grade school teacher. She commuted from a nearby city to a classroom of ordinary fifth-grade students in the country village where our family lived. A premature passion had taken hold of me in the form of political ambition, and Mrs. Cunningham had me believing I could one day become President of the United States. In the recesses of my childish imagination I mapped out a future filled with excitement, influence and idealism. But fifth grade comes and goes, and eventually I found myself on the other side, where the years behind me are likely more than the years I have left to live.

As hard as we try—by looking over old photos or trying to find long-lost friends, for instance—a stubborn reality sets in at midlife, and we must reckon with the end of certain hopes and dreams. Those friends we look up will never again be friends like they once were. The achievements that had been so central in our lives have long been replaced by a daily routine and by decades of faithfulness to more achievable goals.

Reaching midlife—a season in which the anchor of our lives has long held secure-—it becomes clearer yet that we still need God. A comforting message woven through the Bible is this promise from God: “I will be with you.” A transformation needs to take place in midlife and beyond that involves reigniting passion about living with purpose, and at this stage it should also include passion for the life to come. Call it a conversion of sorts—or a resurrection.

I have observed some midlife folks who seem uninterested in dreaming. They have great potential to make a difference, but they seem to see the glass of life as more than half empty. I feel like saying to them, “Quit living as if you are confined to a nursing home. Get up, get out and make a difference in someone’s life. Rise up out of that tomb of apathy.” Even something as simple as volunteering at a soup kitchen can make a big difference. Or fostering and adopting a child. Or being a mentor to a young person who may grow up to be what you wanted to be. None of those things will happen, though, without a resurrection of vision and purpose for the second half of life. The challenge of midlife malaise is a large concern.

Jesus touched on this cycle of gaining and losing momentum. He began his ministry with idealism about the coming kingdom of God. His disciples knew something great would happen as long as Jesus was around. Then everything changed when he died, and the disciples went back to life as they knew it before they met Jesus. Death to a wonderful dream, to that talk about sitting next to Jesus in his kingdom. Get out the fishing nets.

But just when all traces of mystery and hope seemed gone, Jesus reawakened the hearts of his disciples and told them he would be with them, even though he would not be physically present. Jesus told them to wait for a promise. The second stage of their journey, though it lacked his newness and personal presence, was about to become even more profound than the first stage.

Many middle-aged and senior Christians need to hear the voice of Jesus say to them, “I will be with you.” It is one thing to know Jesus is with us in a personal way but quite another to believe he is with us in a purposeful way. The strength of youth may be diminished and a fading memory of unfulfilled dreams, but rather than bemoaning the fact that certain goals will never materialize, those who are middle-aged and older should anticipate a newly revised vision for their lives.

There is a largely untapped mine of wisdom and energy in the over-50 age group in our churches. Rather than retiring to a warm climate and waiting for the inevitable, older people are finding a new lease on life involving service to their churches and communities. We are looking to a time in our churches when there likely will be fewer young people and more people over 50 for the next 20 years or so. With all our emphasis on youth programs, we also need an increased emphasis on engaging older members to become more involved in the church. The dawn of youthful idealism and energy is desirable, but we also need the dusk of the reflective and refined experience of older believers.

A couple in my church are now both retired, but they are two of the most valuable participants in the church. She serves as an elder. He washes pots and pans in the kitchen, serves during community meals and is there to help in other ways. She maintains the bulletin board, and both sit toward the front during worship services, which encourages me. They appear to have a clear purpose in life. Their lives give the impression of being more about beginnings than endings. Instead of getting out the rocking chairs, they live as resurrection people—with purpose for the second half (or a bit shorter) of life.

Another senior woman in our congregation works a part-time job with purpose. She already had a career as a single missionary in Africa for decades, but these days she works so that she can send money to help educate and benefit her “family” overseas. An inner voice of love tells her she has a calling, even as she awaits her eternal reward. Sadly, too many have lost that sense of calling, even those much younger than her.

I heard of an older man who confessed, “I know I will never become President of the United States, but now I realize I won’t be president of anything.” This man reached a crossroads where he could easily close the book on his dreams if he chose. He could just wait for the end to arrive. What he needs is for someone to come along and say to him, “Sure, you didn’t become president. Most of us don’t. But what about becoming president of your block club or a local service organization? What about aiming more toward what others need for you to be for them than focusing on the void left by not attaining what you thought you always wanted for yourself?”

What he needs even more than others’ advice is to hear the inner voice of the One who desires to call him out of his sense of worthlessness and ignite the spark of a new calling in his soul.

Regret can have a paralyzing effect in our lives if we are not careful. Something that can replace regret—and is even more powerful—is the resurrection of a God-given purpose for the second half of our lives. Even when early dreams have died, our hearts can be awakened to hear Jesus say, “I will be with you. … You will be my witnesses.”

Tim Schultz is pastor of Leetonia (Ohio) Mennonite Church.