There’s a moment in a man’s life—usually somewhere in his sixties—when the speed of everything seems to shift. The calendar doesn’t chase you the way it once did. The demands that pulled at you for decades quiet down. The world assumes you’re easing into retirement, stepping back, slowing down.

But Scripture tells a very different story about this stage of life. God describes these years as a fruitful season, not a fading one. “They will still bear fruit in old age; they will stay fresh and green.” (Psalm 92:14) That’s not language about winding down. That’s language about being alive with purpose.

Retirement may change your routines, but it doesn’t change your calling. Influence doesn’t age out. Wisdom doesn’t expire. And the impact you can make on your family—especially on your grandchildren—only grows deeper with time.

One of the gifts of this season is margin. Earlier in life, everything competes for time and attention—career, raising kids, responsibilities, trying to keep the wheels turning. But grandfatherhood offers something those earlier years never could: room to breathe, room to reflect, and room to invest in ways that are measured by eternity, not productivity.

You begin to see that your experiences—the victories, the disappointments, the trials you never asked for—have shaped something in you that younger generations desperately need. Your presence begins to mean stability. Your perspective offers clarity. Your prayers carry a weight only time can forge.

This season doesn’t shrink your purpose; it deepens it. Some of God’s greatest work in Scripture came through men whose best years were supposed to be behind them. Abraham set out on his greatest journey at seventy-five. Moses stepped into leadership at eighty. Caleb asked for new mountains to climb at eighty-five. These were not men winding down. They were men whose availability mattered far more to God than their age. The same is true for us. We are not done. Not even close.

This season invites you to live out what I call BE. RACE. LIVE. BE the man God is shaping you into—BE more like Jesus. RACE the race still set before you—no more comparing, no more competing. LIVE in a way that shows your family what a Christ-anchored, Gospel-unleashed life looks like in every season.

What you carry now—wisdom, steadiness, humility, hard-earned faith—may be the most valuable thing you’ve ever had to offer. Your grandchildren may forget specific lessons you share, but they won’t forget the example you live. They won’t forget the sound of your prayers. They won’t forget the strength of your faith when life pressed hard.

This stage of life invites you to lean deeper into Christ, to cultivate a relationship with Him that becomes the true anchor of your days. As you grow closer to Him, you naturally become a spiritual anchor for your family. Sometimes that influence looks like quiet conversations. Sometimes it’s a phone call or a text just to check in. Sometimes it’s simply the peace they sense in you—peace that doesn’t come from age, but from Christ.

And in a world that is increasingly chaotic, that kind of presence speaks louder than ever.

God isn’t asking you to be who you were twenty years ago. He’s asking you to bring who you are today—seasoned, tested, humbled, strengthened—to the people He’s entrusted to you. The kingdom work He has for you now may not look the same as it once did, but it matters just as much. Possibly more.

This season is not a step back. It is a stewardship. A calling. A privilege.

These later years give you the chance to BE who Christ has formed you to be, to RACE with steady purpose, and to LIVE the kind of life your grandchildren will never forget.

Your grandchildren may not remember every accomplishment of your career, but they will remember the man you are right now. They will remember the steadiness you bring to their lives. They will remember the faith you model, the peace you carry, the moments you choose presence over busyness. And long after we’re gone, those things continue to echo.

That’s why this season matters so much. Because influence doesn’t age out. Wisdom doesn’t retire. Calling doesn’t fade. God doesn’t stop using a man simply because the calendar turned another year.

So don’t believe the lie that your greatest days are behind you. They’re not. The work God is doing in you—and through you—still has purpose, still has weight, still has reach. You are not done. Not even close.

This chapter of your life may just be the one that leaves the deepest mark.

Don Schin has extensive global experience in Asia with Fortune 500 companies. He now owns a franchise broker and consulting company. Don is a seasoned professional speaker and writer, authoring the book, “Can you Relate?” Don is active in his community where his time is devoted to men’s groups, local churches, and non-profit boards including recent past chair of the Bethesda Mission, the largest rescue mission in Harrisburg, PA. He also served as the chaplain for an AA baseball team through BaseballChapel.org,And today serves as a Hockey International Ministries chaplain to the Calder cup champion Hershey Bears AHL hockey team. Don enjoys spending time with his wife, Kim, of 46 years. They have two grown children and seven grandchildren. 

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By mastering the single most important key to success, Don delivers a practical, back-to-basics guide that shows how to build strong, intentional relationships in every area of life—family, business, friendships, and faith.