No matter how much I’m enjoying a church function, I can’t wait to go home.
@FailingPastor
I have enjoyed many church events and one-on-one meetings in my pastoral career. Relaxed, edifying, and enjoyable time together with people of like-minded faith is what church is mostly about.
But I still really like going home.
This is especially true if I had to “dress up.” Suits are the worst. Just taking off the tie is like 50 pounds being lifted off me. I take off the nice shirt and dress pants, and remove the sweaty black socks out of the sweaty dress shoes, and I could float away.
There’s nothing like coming home and putting a pair of shorts and a t-shirt on.
I’m a person who gets drained by people. Even if it’s people I love and an enjoyable activity. I still need to be alone for a while and chill. My brain needs time to reflect, process, and prepare for what’s next.
Every pastor needs a nice place to go sit and be alone. I have a nice chair in my office I read in. I have a spot by the lake across the road and some parks nearby. Nice spots I can just go and sit and be quiet and alone. I pray. I think. I even laugh at my jokes. I say witty comebacks to long over conversations.
Being alone puts energy back in me that being with others sucked out. Nothing wrong with the people; it’s just how I’m wired.
“There’s no place like home,” I happily say along with tornado-displaced Dorothy. I have no magic shoes that take me there, just sweaty dress shoes that probably can’t wait to get home either.
I can only imagine the feeling of being in my eternal home, putting off my old, sweaty tent of a body and putting on the new spiritual body. What a day of rejoicing it will be! I can’t wait to get home.
When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.
–John 6:15
Failing Pastor 
I am the same way. Sometimes it makes me feel like…well…a failing pastor. I love my people, but I need my alone time. Thanks for this.
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You are not alone.
Unless, like you want to be.
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Nearly ALL my family, friends, church members have been told… and know well… that I ABSOLUTELY CRAVE solitude. I feel this craving is MUCH more than most… I can “do” and “serve” and “love/interact” perhaps as well as most… but it’s a chore, a strain and just like the urge to use the bathroom (best example I can think of)… I CAN”T deny that urge. I manage all of these emotions fairly well, but it’s not easy and there’s A LOT of work going on inside my head/heart to be social. Being a Pastor just adds to this… God is good though… I lean on him and run away when I can… 🙂
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Even Jesus headed into the mountains and left crowds from time to time. People exhaust me. If I don’t get alone time, I would hurt someone!
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