Decisions of a Senior Citizen

For 30 years I have raised my family in the same home.  It was once a home filled with laughter, tears and all the other side effects of six children, two parents, two cats and the coming and going of friends, all under one roof.  It is quiet now, the children have left the nest, my wife deceased and the cats have gone to ‘a better place’.  The last of my children recently moved from the area, which leaves me with some significant decisions to make.  Do I stay in the area and manage a long-distance relationship with my children, or do I relocate in order to be closer?  If I do relocate, to the vicinity of which child, and will that child end up relocating as well?  In considering this decision, I pondered a while the impact I am having, now that I am single and an empty-Nester.  Am I really having an impact in the lives of my neighbors?  Am I making a difference in the lives and testimonies of my fellow church members?  Sometimes it feels like I do not. Even my church calling to the single adults in my stake seems to isolate me from the usual ward auxiliaries and functions.  No, I am not wallowing in some pool of self-pity or the like, I am simply tabulating the pros and cons of leaving my home of 30 years.

Recently, I received a graduation announcement from the daughter of a family I have ministered to for several years.  At the time I was assigned this family, the father was given only months to live.  The assignment came not long after I lost my own wife, so the trial they were facing was a familiar one.  I was uncomfortable in being the ministering brother whose spouse had fought a similar battle with cancer and lost.  I have watched the father survive from year to year and the family grow and flourish in spite, and in many ways, because of the tremendous loss looming over their heads.  The graduation announcement was from their third child, an incredible young woman who brightens a room the moment she enters.  With that announcement she included the following note:

Thank you for always being there for my family.  When you first became our minister, I didn’t give you enough credit.  But as time went on I grew to love and appreciate you to the point where it felt like if my dad did end up leaving us it’d be OK because you were there.  Thank you for always showing us kindness. 🙂

Will this profoundly touching note impact my decision?  Well, it certainly reminded me that as I try to stay close to the Savior and follow the promptings of His spirit, my impact is far more than I realize.  I never know when I have touched a heart and made a difference in someone’s life.  By simply living by the spirit from day to day, He uses my feeble efforts and my testimony in unfathomable ways.  In other ways it has reminded me that it really doesn’t matter where I am.  As long as I am trying my best to serve Him and follow His direction, He will use me where ever I stand.