Alone

Lydia and I are doing a photo lent devotion together, and today’s word is “Alone.” I have been reflecting on that word today, and thinking about how I have been taught to practice a spiritual discipline of “alone” time with God. You know what I am talking about right? Where you sit alone for an hour praying, journaling, and reading scripture. 

Bishop Mike made some keen observations about this practice earlier this year. He was talking to a group of us clergy about self-care and he mentioned that spiritual discipline books are usually written by introverts. Introverts get energy by being by themselves, and this practice of “being alone” naturally works with their personality. He shared that for extraverts, this practice can be really hard. Because we naturally get energy from being with others, alone time can have the opposite affect on us. He recommended that for us extraverts, a good self-care practice is having a small group/covenant group that we meet with on a regular basis to feed our souls. He added that even if we are extraverts, we should still practice alone time, precisely because it is so hard. Hard disciplines have a way of growing and strengthening us that easy practices do not. As an extravert, it was really refreshing to hear this perspective.

Lately, I have felt pretty spiritually drained. Hey, pastors have seasons too. I am very aware that I have been leaning heavily on those spiritual disciplines of community. I have been spending more time with other Christians, more time with my family, more time seeking out corporate worship. Through these disciplines, I have felt like the lame man, whose friends brought him to Jesus. Jesus healed him because of the faith of his friends. Right now, the faith of those around me is carrying me to Jesus.

So I want to say thank you to all of you who are those friends. Those in our church, on pastor parish relations committee, our worship team that lets me sit in during practice, those who have asked about my son when he was sick, those who have made us special treats, other pastors and their families, Nick and my family, and...the rest of you. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.  Thank you for energizing my soul. Thank you for letting this extravert know, I am not alone.